During interdiction operations in three states over the last week, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) agents intercepted 2,684,900 tramadol pills and seized other pharmaceutical opioids.
The NDLEA’s spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, stated this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi stated that 250,000 tramadol and exol-5 pills, as well as 1800ml of codeine, were found neatly concealed in the reserve fuel tank of a trailer from Onitsha, Anambra, in Mubi, Adamawa.
Hussaini Ibrahim (a.k.a. Bafu), he said, was arrested in connection with the seized drugs.
According to him, on Monday, February 13, a total of 279,000 tramadol 200mg and 225mg pills were recovered from a suspect, Hammajan Suleman, along the Okene-Abuja highway in Kogi State.
He also stated that 376 blocks of skunk weighing 229.36kgs, as well as a Toyota Camry car driven by another suspect, Moses Alabi, from Edo State to Kano State, were turned over to NDLEA.
This, he said, was done by a Nigerian Army patrol team in Lokoja, Kogi, on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
In the same vein, two suspects, Chinonso Obiora and Christian Nnachor, were apprehended by soldiers along the Abuja-Kaduna express road with 300,000 Exol-5 pills and 1,843,900 Diazepam tablets.
According to Babafemi, they were transferred to the NDLEA Kaduna State Command on Monday, February 13, while Christopher Maduka was apprehended with 10,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection on Saturday, February 18, along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.
“In Kano, Ahmed Suraj Rabiu was arrested with 89 bottles of codeine syrup in the Badawa area of the state, while Amadu Musa and three other persons were nabbed in Kofar Mata with 53 blocks of cannabis weighing 41.9kgs.
“In Niger, a trans-border trafficker, Abdullahi Isah, was arrested along Jebba-Mokwa highway with 188 blocks of skunk that weighed 107 kilograms, which he was attempting to take to the Niger Republic.
“24kgs of Arizona variant of cannabis and 2,000 pills of opioids were recovered from Ibrahim Isiyaku along Nguru- Kano road in Yobe,” he said.
Babafemi also stated that four suspects were arrested for drug trafficking: Usman Abubakar, a Chadian; Muhammad Ali; Ibrahim Yahaya; and Babagana Abdullahi.
He stated that the suspects were apprehended in connection with the seizure of 61.45 kilograms of cannabis and 22.1 kilograms of exol-5 in Jigawa State, with follow-up operations in Kano.
“Usman ordered the consignments with the intention of transporting them to Chad,” he explained.
