Oct. 15, 2023

NDLEA seized 4.9 million dollars and 57 million CFA suspected to be counterfeits on the Abuja-Lokoja Highway on Tuesday.

The CFA, backed by the French treasury is the legal tender in Francophone West and Central Africa accepted in 14 countries.

Director, Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi stated on Sunday in Abuja that the suspected counterfeit notes were seized from a commercial bus travelling from Lagos to Kano.

“A search of the bus led to the seizure of the 4.8 million dollars and 57 million CFA suspected to be counterfeits,’’ he stated.

Babafemi also celebrated the jailing of an acting district head in Sokoto, Alhaji Umar Mohammed (aka Dan Bala) for five-and-a-half years for dealing in drugs.

A Federal High Court in Sokoto presided over by Justice Ahmad Mahmud sentenced the acting district head after the NDLEA preferred a four-count charge of drug dealing against him in October 2022.

The NDLEA told the court that Mohammed was in possession of and dealing in 436.38kg of Indian hemp and 7kg of other psychotropic drugs.

The court sentenced Mohammed to two years on each of the first two counts with an option of N1 million fine, and eight months on each of the third and fourth counts without an option of fine.

On Oct. 11, NDLEA operatives stormed Orue Forest in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo where they arrested one Happy Akashili (37) and Solomon Uwesue (40) in a hut located inside an Indian hemp farm.

Babafemi stated that the farm measured 2.4 hectares and was destroyed, adding that 92kg already processed skunk were also recovered there.

He added that 49kg of skunk was also seized at Ogbeturu camp in the area.

The NDLEA spokesman stated also that the agency had been advancing its advocacy on drug supply reduction with the War against Drug Abuse (WADA) in campaigns in schools, markets, worship centres and communities.

Babafemi added that one of the flagship programmes of the advocacy was the WADA sensitisation lecture on drug use and mental Health for students of 15 secondary schools at the University of Ibadan.

The sensitisation lecture was also delivered in schools in Badagry, Lagos State; in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State; in Awka; in Gombe; in Benue, Zamfara and in Kano. (NAN)