The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said that its personnel arrested a deaf man suspected to be a drug dealer in the Samaru area of Zaria, Kaduna state.
The agency recovered 150 grams of cannabis from him while he was selling the psychoactive substance.
The NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement on Sunday said the personnel of the agency also intercepted large consignments of Ghanaian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis sativa, smuggled into Lagos from Ghana.
It was loaded in two trucks and a J5 bus with a total weight of 14,524.8 kilograms.
The NDLEA spokesperson said that the three vehicles conveying jumbo bags of the psychoactive substance were trailed and intercepted in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos in the early hours of January 28, 2024.
According to him, in the process of blocking the vehicles, two of the drivers jumped off on motion while the third driver, a 66-year-old Nasiru Ojomu, who works with a wanted Akala, Mushin-based drug baron identified as Suleiman Jimoh (alias Olowo Idi Ogede, also known as Temo) were arrested.
Babafemi stated that in the last three years, NDLEA operatives had seized several shipments of the same psychoactive substance worth billions of naira and linked to the wanted drug baron, Temo. It added that the wanted drug lord had since gone into hiding while the agency continued a manhunt for him.
Similarly, Babafemi stated that NDLEA operatives on routine patrol around a warehouse sealed at Church Street, Idumota, Lagos by the agency over an ongoing investigation on Thursday arrested three suspects.
The suspects were identified as Joseph Joshua, Muhammed Adamu and Balarabe Musa, and accused of burgling the store and loading 546,700 pills of tramadol and other opioids into a waiting yellow bus marked BDG 447 XD and an unregistered Suzuki minibus.
The NDLEA spokesperson said that another suspect identified as 56-year-old Ibrahim Sani was also arrested in possession of 51 kilograms of the same substance in the Tirkaniya area of the state.
Also, operatives of NDLEA in Abuja on January 31 arrested one Emmanuel Paul, with 43.5kg of cannabis concealed in used shoes loaded in a trailer coming from Ogbese, Ondo State to be delivered in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In Katsina State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Dutsinma-Katsina Road on Friday arrested a 35-year-old suspect identified as Murtala Isah, with a total of 37,600 pills of tramadol and other opioids recovered from him.
Similarly, in Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on January 31 destroyed 833.32 kilograms of cannabis sativa on a two-acre farmland at Iluke community, Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of the state while the 49-year-old owner, Samuel Atonila, was arrested.
Babafemi stated that on the same day, operatives of the agency in Nasarawa state also arrested three suspects identified as Muhammed Musa, Bilyaminu Musa and Sadiya Ya’u with the same psychoactive substance weighing 24.4kg at Uke, Karu Local Government Area of the state.
He added that not less than 258 kilograms of the same substance were recovered from a bush store around Ikare bypass, Owo, Ondo state.
He further stated that NDLEA commands across the 36 states and the FCT continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation lectures in schools, communities, workplaces and others in the past week. Some of these include WADA sensitisation lecture for students and staff of Gombe State College of Education and Legal Studies, Nafada; parents, students, and teachers of Kemta comprehensive high school, Olugbo, Odeda LGA, Ogun State; students of Government Day Science Technical School, Babura, Jigawa State; students and staff of Government science school, Mokwa, Niger State; students of Ansarudeen secondary school, Iludun, Osun state; students of St David’s Anglican Basic School, Ogbomoso, Oyo state; students of Government Girls Arabic Secondary School, Anguwar Danya, Wudil LGA, Kano state; traders at Ogbo-Olu timber market, Anambra state and commercial motorcyclists in Oko Afo, Olorunda LCDA, Badagry, Lagos state, among others.
According to Babafemi, commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of Lagos, Kaduna, Ondo, Katsina, Nasarawa, Kogi and FCT Commands, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen.