Operatives of the Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company have dismantled two main cross-border drug trafficking syndicates and arrested six drug kingpins from Adamawa, Anambra, and Lagos states, in addition to Cameroon.
In response to a press release launched on Sunday by the NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the group had been underneath the company’s surveillance for a number of months as they had been main suppliers of medication to terrorist teams working in Nigeria and Cameroon.
He mentioned, “After months of intelligence gathering and painstaking surveillance, operatives of the NDLEA have dismantled two main cross-border drug trafficking syndicates, with cocaine and opioids price billions of naira recovered. Six leaders of the cartels had been arrested in several components of the nation.
“The syndicates, which embrace Nigerians based mostly in Mubi, Adamawa State; Onitsha, Anambra State; and Lagos State, in addition to Cameroonians, got here underneath the NDLEA’s radar after they had been suspected of being main suppliers of medication to terrorist teams working in Nigeria and Cameroon.
“Leaders of the syndicates to date arrested embrace Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Anayo, Ezeh Martin, and Adejumo Ishola. Intelligence gathered revealed that some psychoactive substances, together with tramadol, had been usually sourced by Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib from a infamous drug vendor in Onitsha, Nelson Udechukwu Anayo, and had been then packed and hid in automobiles on the premises of Ezeh Amaechi Martin, an affiliate of Udechukwu.
“The duo of Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib would transport the medicine from Onitsha to Yola and subsequently to different components of the North and Cameroon in specifically constructed false compartments of automobiles, which travelled from the East to the North at evening.”
Babafemi additional acknowledged that on October 7, 2024, Bawuro and Najib had been trailed from Onitsha, the place they’d gone to buy one other consignment, and had been arrested in Taraba the next day. A complete of 276,500 drugs of tramadol had been recovered from a Toyota Avensis saloon automotive marked DKA 57 TT, which they deserted on the Jalingo-Yola expressway upon realising NDLEA operatives had been on their path.
“Observe-up operations had been subsequently carried out in Delta and Anambra states, the place Ezeh Amaechi Martin and Udechukwu Nelson Anayo had been arrested by operatives of the NDLEA Directorate of Intelligence, which coordinated your entire effort with their counterparts in Taraba, Adamawa, Delta, and Anambra,” he added.
Babafemi additionally mentioned one other chief of a special syndicate, Ishola, was arrested on Tuesday, November 5, on the Seme border in Lagos, on his means from Ghana with 3.3 kilograms of cocaine and 600 grams of artificial hashish. The 37-year-old was arrested following months of intelligence and surveillance on his cross-border legal actions.
In one other operation in Lagos, Babafemi famous that operatives on the Apapa seaport on November 6 intercepted 31,750,000 drugs of 240mg Voltron, a managed opioid, which had been packaged and hid in a container imported from India as diclofenac sodium 100mg tablets.
He added, “The invention was made throughout a joint examination of the container with officers of the Customs Service and different safety companies.
“On the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport (MMIA), import shed, Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA officers on Tuesday, November 5, intercepted a 700-gram consignment of Loud, a powerful pressure of hashish. A software program engineer, Olu Marshal, who confirmed as much as accumulate the package deal, was promptly arrested, and a follow-up search of his house in Lekki led to the restoration of drug paraphernalia, together with a hashish crusher.”
Babafemi additionally acknowledged that an try by one other suspect, Orji Nnaorji, to ship 32.50kg of codeine syrup and 5.70kg of hashish to London, UK, hid in tiger nuts cargo by way of the export shed of the Lagos airport, was thwarted by operatives on November 8, 2024, amongst different interceptions.