Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the weekend busted another Tramadol cartel in Lagos State with the seizure of millions of opioid pills and bottles worth over N5billion from a warehouse in Amuwo Odofin area of the state.
Two suspected drug kingpins were also arrested.
This was just as anti-narcotics officers of the Agency also uncovered and dismantled a clandestine skuchies laboratory in a remote part of Sagamu, Ogun State where several equipment and various quantities of illicit substances used to mass produce the dangerous new psychoactive substance were recovered on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
The Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday, January 15 that the drug cartels took the first heat on Tuesday January 10 from determined officers of the Agency who intercepted an imported consignment of Loud, a strong variant of cannabis, weighing 4, 878.72 kilogrammes along Awolowo road Ikoyi, Lagos.
After a near fatal encounter with some suspected fake security agents escorting the drugs, the NDLEA operatives succeeded in recovering the consignment with a white truck marked BDG 548 XX conveying it.
This was followed by the seizure of 121,630 pills of pharmaceutical opioids and some quantity of Molly from a dealer, Charles Okeke, on Wednesday January 11 at Idumota area of Lagos Island.
Another effort by the NDLEA to bring the drug cartels to their knees paid off on Friday, January 13 when operatives tracked and located a major warehouse for pharmaceutical opioids at 17, Sir Ben Onyeka Street, off Ago Palace Way in Amuwo Odofin area of the state, while the owner of the store, Aloysius Okeke was arrested.
Illicit drugs recovered from the warehouse included 3,264,630 pills of tramadol, 3,490 bottles of codeine and 915,000 capsules of Pregabalin 300mg.
This came on the heels of the arrest of a suspect, Olarenwaju Lawal Wahab who distributed for the cartel same day.
Recovered from his white Mercedes distribution bus were 14,690 bottles of codeine-based syrup, 402,500 tablets of Tramadol 250mg, 50,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg and 210,000 capsules of Pregabalin 300mg.
In neighbouring Ogun State, in the early hours of Saturday, January 14, operatives also discovered and dismantled a clandestine laboratory on the outskirts of Sagamu from where skuchies, a highly potent psychoactive substance made with a blend of Cannabis Sativa, Tramadol, Rohypnol, Exol-5 and industrial codeine, was being produced in large quantity, packaged and distributed in jerry cans and bottles.
All the equipment for the production, including power generators, industrial gas cylinders, drums and kegs, as well as various quantities of illicit drugs such as 214kg cannabis, 1,440 capsules of tramadol, 480 tablets of swinol, 1,440 tablets of Rohypnol and 114 litres of industrial codeine, among others, were recovered from the building before the sealing of the premises.
In Abuja, operatives of the FCT Command of the Agency on Thursday, January 12, raided the notorious Tora bora hills in the federal capital city and recovered 350.7kg of skunk and 794 bottles of codeine hidden under rocks. This is even as 756kg of cannabis was recovered at Dawo village, Kaga LGA, Borno and transferred to the Agency on Friday, January 13, by officers of the Nigerian Army, FOB 29 Task Force Brigade, Benishiekh, in conjunction with hunters’ group, based on intelligence from the state command of the NDLEA.
In Ondo State, operatives stormed Alayere, Akure North LGA, where they arrested a suspect, Sunday Make with 275kg of cannabis sativa and seeds, while a total of 272kg of cannabis were recovered from two suspects — Nwele Friday, 35, and Egbe Nnaemeka, 47 — at Ifo layout, Abakpa Nike, Enugu.
In Katsina, 34.3kg of cannabis were also recovered from an uncompleted building in Muduru, Mani village, after which the owner, Murtala Isiya was arrested in a follow up operation.
In the same vein, a notorious drug dealer who is physically challenged, Abiodun Emaria, 40, was on Saturday, January 14, arrested with 6.2kg of cannabis at his hideout in Ohada village, Uhunmonde LGA, Edo State.
Commending the officers and men of Lagos, FCT, Ondo, Enugu, Borno, Katsina and Edo Commands for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them and their compatriots across the country to sustain the heat on drug cartels in Nigeria while balancing their efforts on supply reduction with drug demand reduction activities.
