Taiwo Jimoh 
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 104,900 capsules of tramadol concealed in the driver’s compartment of a fuel tanker allegedly transporting the illicit consignment to insurgents in parts of Borno State.
The operation took place on Friday, August 29, at the Abuja/Kaduna tollgate in Kaduna, where a suspect, Hassan Buba, was arrested.
Another suspect, Kabir Sulaiman, 45, was arrested the next day, Saturday, August 30, at the Gwargwaje-Zaria checkpoint with 34.150kg of cannabis.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that operatives also apprehended a major supplier of illicit opioids in Borno State, 33-year-old Uchenna Umeh, shortly after receiving supplies from Onitsha, Anambra State. Items recovered from his apartment in Chescon, Pompomary area of Maiduguri include 30,640 tramadol 225mg pills, 7,940 rohypnol tablets, and ₦7,999,200 in new ₦200 notes.
In Nasarawa State, operatives arrested 36-year-old Abubakar Dauda at Abacha Park, Mararaba Karu, on Thursday, August 28, with 79,040 tramadol and diazepam pills. This followed the arrest of Babangida Tungura, 47, in Lafia, who was found with 30,410 tramadol and rohypnol tablets and 38 bottles of codeine-based syrup concealed in a deep freezer from Asaba, Delta State, on Tuesday, August 26.
A 23-year-old suspect, Mohammed Ali, was arrested in Ngorore, Adamawa State, on Wednesday, August 27, in a follow-up operation after his consignment of 15,000 tramadol capsules, concealed in sacks of animal feed, was intercepted at the Gombe Mega Park.
In Kano, operatives arrested Ashiru Garba, 20, and Aminu Abdu, 22, along Kano-Hadeja Road on Tuesday, August 26, with 1.5kg of cannabis and 25,000 exol-5 pills. On Thursday, August 28, Ali Muhammad, 37, and Muhammad Maishanu, 42, were apprehended along Zaria-Kano Road, Gadan Tamburawa, with 8,080 bottles of a new psychoactive substance and 25.7kg of cannabis. Additionally, operatives seized 250,000 exol-5 tablets from Alhasaan Musa, 25, in Zango, Ungogo LGA, on Saturday, August 30.
In Adamawa, Hamisu Abdullahi was arrested on Monday, August 25, in a follow-up operation after operatives intercepted a Golf saloon car loaded with 79 blocks of cannabis weighing 58kg. The vehicle, driven by Sani Suleiman, was stopped along Mararraba Lamurde while coming from Gombe State.
In Edo State, officers intercepted a commercial bus along Ewu-Auchi Road, Etsako West LGA, carrying 64,250 opioid pills, mainly tramadol, from Onitsha to Okene, Kogi State. A suspect, Mohammed Halidu, 36, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
Two suspects, Elves Odogwu, 45, and David Jeremiah, 35, were also arrested in Ondo State during a raid at Queen Elizabeth, Aponmun Reserved Camp, where 117.5kg of processed cannabis and seeds were recovered. In Lagos, operatives seized 164kg of cannabis from the base of suspect Michael Ayodele in Mushin on Saturday, August 30.
In what appears to be the single largest seizure of Loud and Colorado, two potent strains of cannabis, in Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives raided Nova Street, behind New Creation School, Ado-Ekiti, on Friday, August 29. They seized 5.3kg of Loud and Colorado and 2.5g of methamphetamine from 42-year-old drug kingpin Ajayi Ayodeji Idowu, alias Atiku.
Meanwhile, NDLEA commands nationwide continued the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization campaign through lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, palaces, and workplaces. Highlights include sensitization lectures for secondary school students at Ezechima Primary School, Onitsha, Anambra State; outreach to youths of the Anglican Diocese, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State; visits to HRM De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi, Akran of Badagry, Lagos State; Nigerian Ports Authority MD/CEO Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho; Ogun State First Lady Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun; and HRM Oba Suleiman Adekunle Bamgbade Ayodele III, Olofin of Isheri, Lagos State.
Commending the operatives for the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised commands in Anambra, Taraba, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Gombe, Lagos, Ekiti, Ondo, and Edo States for their efforts.
He also applauded nationwide sensitization drives, urging officers to continue taking advocacy messages to every community under their jurisdiction.
