Jan. 7, 2024

…Over 3 tons of illicit drugs in raids across Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, Osun

A 28-year-old female supplier of ammunition to bandits, Bilkisu Suleman was among twelve (12) other suspects arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives in new year interdiction operations in Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun states.

According to a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA on Sunday, Bilkisu was arrested on Wednesday 3rd January by NDLEA officers on patrol along Zaria Kano expressway in possession of 249 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a black nylon bag kept in her lady’s handbag.

She was on her way to deliver the ammunition to an identified bandit in Kakumi village, Katsina state when she was nabbed after which she was transferred to the Kaduna state command of the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation.

The military authorities at the Bonny camp cantonment in Lagos on Tuesday 2nd January transferred a suspect, Francis Suru, 37 and 63 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 2,104.2 kilograms and a truck to the Lagos state command of NDLEA.

The suspect and the drug exhibits were earlier intercepted by NDLEA officers on 12th December 2023 close to the gate of the military cantonment in Bonny Camp, Victoria Island.

Some armed escorts however resorted to sporadic shooting to obstruct the operation, a development which attracted soldiers from the cantonment, who eventually intervened and took custody of the consignment and suspect before transferring them to the Agency.

In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Niger state on Thursday 5th January during a stop and search operation along Suleja-Kaduna road intercepted a J5 bus coming from Ondo state to Zaria, Kaduna state with twenty-three (23) bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg.

Two suspects: Umar Musa, 26 and Isachiru Abubakar were arrested in connection with the seizure.

While a female drug trafficker, Queen Onyema, 27, was arrested on Saturday 6th January in a commercial bus enroute Abuja along Okene-Lokoja expressway with 12 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 4.6kg and 0.046kg designer drugs concealed in an indomie carton, another suspect Mubarak Sani, 20, was nabbed at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano on Monday 1st January with 445.9k kilograms of the same psychoactive substance.

In Borno, four suspects: Zanna Alhaji Dala, 32; Musa Umar, 21; Mushe Ibrahim, 23, and Shehu Idris, 19 were arrested at Pomfomari bye pass area of the state with 60kg cannabis.

Also, in Osun, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Osogbo-Ode Omu road on new year day, Monday 1st January intercepted a consignment of illicit drugs sent through waybill from Lagos to Osogbo. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of Ibrahim Olawale, 43.

The drugs recovered include: cannabis sativa 10.8kg; Loud 150grams; Colorado 19grams; Molly 5grams totalling 10.974kg. A digital scale, N18,000 monetary exhibit and customized wrapping papers for Colorado were also seized.