By Deborah Nnamdi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have busted a trans-border drug trafficking syndicate, arresting four members.
NDLEA stated that multi-million-naira worth of tramadol pills concealed in the bumper and false bottom of Sienna buses heading to border towns were recovered during the intelligence-led operations.
This was disclosed in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.
Babafemi said that a Sienna bus marked ABJ 452 HG was intercepted on the Nasarawa-Toto road, Keffi, Nasarawa State, on Tuesday, January 25, 2025, at 6 a.m., following weeks of intelligence and surveillance operations by operatives of the Directorate of Intelligence in NDLEA.
According to the statement, two suspects, Zahradeen Adamu, 27, and Abubakar Usman, 44, were arrested in the vehicle coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, en route to Yola, Adamawa State, while the second Sienna bus driven by Abba Usman, 48, was also intercepted.
He disclosed that specially constructed steel compartments were discovered after the removal of the back bumper, where a total of 190,960 pills of tramadol were concealed during a search of the two vehicles.
“Investigations revealed that an Onitsha, Anambra State-based dealer, Kingsley Mbaeri, was the supplier of the seized tramadol consignment. A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of Mbaeri at his Uga Street, Onitsha home on 29th January. Two vehicles, a Toyota Corolla marked FGG 948 MF and a Toyota Sienna marked GWA 23 HH, were recovered from his house,” Babafemi said.
He said: “In another operation, operatives of the Intelligence Department intercepted a commercial bus coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, at Abaji checkpoint, FCT Abuja, on February 4. A passenger in the bus, Chimezie Henry Ojingwa, 32, carrying motor spare parts in a black bag, was arrested. When his bag was searched, 404.47 grams of methamphetamine, 506.49 grams of Loud (a synthetic strain of cannabis), and 262.32 grams of dimethyl sulfone (a precursor substance for mixing meth), all of which were concealed in the motor parts, were recovered.
“In Cross River State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Ogoja-Abakaliki road, Yahe, on Thursday, February 13, intercepted 170,000 pills of tramadol in a truck driven by Paul Chukwudi, 31, while operatives at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Tuesday, February 11, recovered 85,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup in a container imported from India.
“Two suspects, Halilu Isa and Gambo Umaru, were nabbed at Bama Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, on Friday, February 14, with 60 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 72 kg, while NDLEA operatives in Ekiti State on Tuesday, February 11, raided a notorious drug joint at Iloda Street, Ikole-Ekiti, where they arrested three suspects: Bala Muhammed, 57, Yahaya Adamu, 55, and Abdullahi Shehu, 30. A total of 83 kilograms of skunk were recovered from them.
“In Lagos, 28-year-old Samiat Olabisi Yussuf was on Saturday, February 15, arrested by operatives during a raid of her Lekki home where 169.5 liters of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas, and 111 grams of Loud were recovered. Not less than 132.84 kilograms of skunk were recovered from two suspects, Ibrahim Usman, 40, and Solomon James, 40, in Taraba. While Usman was nabbed with 88 kg of Arizona and Ghana Loud at Wukari, James was arrested with 44.84 kg of the same substance at Takanaba, Sabongari, in Jalingo LGA.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of the Directorate of Intelligence, Apapa, Cross River, Borno, Ekiti, Taraba, and Lagos Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
Marwa also applauded their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA sensitization lectures and advocacy messages to every part of their areas of responsibility.
