By Deborah Nnamdi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has destroyed a massive cannabis plantation and carried out a series of high-profile arrests in multiple northern states as part of an intensified crackdown on drug trafficking and abuse.
In Taraba State, NDLEA operatives, in a joint operation with the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Forest Security Service, Mambila Youth Vanguard, and local vigilantes, uncovered and destroyed a 71.5-hectare cannabis farm in the Mayodoga forest, Sardauna Local Government Area. A total of 178,750 kilograms of skunk was eradicated. The farm owner, 30-year-old Alfa Andrew, was arrested during the operation on Tuesday, August 26. He was also found in possession of a locally-made firearm (dane gun).
Elsewhere, in Abuja, officers intercepted a fuel tanker at the Abuja-Kaduna tollgate on Friday, August 29, uncovering 104,900 capsules of tramadol hidden in the driver’s compartment. The driver, Hassan Buba, was arrested. Investigations suggest the drugs were headed to insurgent groups in Borno State.
In Zaria, Kaduna State, a man identified as Kabir Sulaiman, 45, was arrested at the Gwargwaje checkpoint on Saturday, August 30, with 34.15kg of skunk.
That same day in Borno, NDLEA arrested 33-year-old Uchenna Umeh, a suspected major supplier of opioids in Maiduguri. A search of his residence yielded 30,640 tramadol pills, 7,940 rohypnol tablets, and N7.99 million in cash.
In Nasarawa State, two suspects were arrested in separate operations. On Thursday, August 28, Abubakar Dauda, 36, was apprehended at Mararaba Karu with 79,040 pills of tramadol and diazepam. In Lafia, 47-year-old Babangida Tungura was caught with 30,410 pills of tramadol and rohypnol, as well as 38 bottles of codeine syrup, concealed in a freezer.
In Adamawa, 23-year-old Mohammed Ali was arrested on Wednesday, August 27, while attempting to transport 15,000 tramadol capsules hidden in bags of animal feed.
Kano State also saw a wave of arrests. Along Kano-Hadejia Road, Ashiru Garba, 20, and Aminu Abdu, 22, were found with 1.5kg of skunk and 25,000 Exol-5 pills. Further down Zaria-Kano Road, operatives apprehended Ali Muhammad, 37, and Muhammad Maishanu, 42, with 8,080 bottles of new psychoactive substances and 25.7kg of skunk. In a separate bust, Alhasaan Musa, 25, was caught in Ungogo LGA with 250,000 tablets of Exol-5.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), commended the agency’s operatives and collaborating security agencies for their diligence, noting that the seizures and arrests reflect NDLEA’s ongoing commitment to curbing the drug scourge across the country.
