June 04, (THEWILL) – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have uncovered a large warehouse of skunk, used to store “231 jumbo bags of the psychotropic substance weighing 3,003 kilograms (over 3 tonnes), which was set ablaze”.
The warehouse was uncovered on Tuesday, May 30, at lwe forest in Iwe community, Owan West local government area of Edo state, following intelligence that a wanted drug kingpin had stored tonnes of the ilicit substance in the forest, ready for distribution to other parts of the country.
Director, Media & Advocacy of the anti-narcotic agency, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Sunday, said, following the intelligence, hundreds of well-armed NDLEA operatives stormed the forest in the early hours of Tuesday, where the illicit drugs were uncovered.
The statement added that “not less than 76.9 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis were recovered from four used vehicles in a container marked MSDU6686346 from Canada at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state between Thursday, June 1, and Friday, June 2, during a joint inspection of the shipment with men of the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The request for 100 percent examination of the shipment followed earler intelligence received by the Agency on the container.
“In Kano state, two suspects: Ma’aruf Rabiu and Abubakar Mustapha, were arrested on Tuesday, May 30, along Zaria-Kano road with 260 blocks of cannabis weighing 139.4kg.
“While Auwal Ibrahim was nabbed with 38kg of the same substance the following day Wednesday 31st May along Kaduna-Abuja road, same day 35-year-old female suspect, Bilkisu lsiya, was arrested at Birnin Yero, Kaduna in possession of 5.6kg cannabis.
“In Borno state, two suspects: Abubakar Usman (aka Alhaji Mai Kero) and Adamu Yusuf were arrested at Bargu village, Shani LGA, on Saturday 3 June with 165 blocks of skunk weighing 140.7kg.
“Their arrest was effected deep inside a fluid insurgents’ environment with military support. A female suspect, Hauwa Ibrahim, 25, was also nabbed in the same village with 6.4kg of the psychoactive sutbstance, while another suspect Alhaji Abubakar, 27, was arrested at Njimtilo checkpoint with 4,200 ampoules of pentazocine injection and different quantities of D5 and exol-5 tablets.
“A 30-year-old suspect, Iroko Wasiu, was arrested at a drug joint at Sabo Aba-Owolowo, along Oyo-Ogbomoso expressway, on Tuesday, 30th May and 31.2kg of cannabis recovered from him, while two suspects: Deji Adelabu, 35, and Mutiu Salau, 37, were nabbed the following day Wednesday 31” May in Sabo area along Oyo-Ogbomoso road and Awuro Dada area in Orire local government area of Oyo state, with a total of 8kg cannabis recovered from them.
“While commending the officers and men of the Edo, Onne Ports, Kano, Kaduna, Borno and Oyo state Commands for their commitment and synergy with other law enforcement agencies in their areas of responsibility, Chairman/Chief Executive officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), urged them and their compatriots across the country to intensify the offensive action against drug cartels while ensuring a balance with drug demand reduction efforts.”
