Officials from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA) have successfully seized illicit
substances valued at N4.8 billion in a
warehouse situated in Lagos State. Additionally, they managed to intercept
counterfeit currency amounting to $20 million in Abuja and apprehended a
sought-after teenage bandit in Sokoto State.
This information was disclosed in an announcement on Sunday,
conveyed through a statement by Femi Babafemi, the Director of Media and
Advocacy at the agency.
Babafemi specified that the haul of illegal drugs worth
billions of naira was discovered in a warehouse concealed within the well-known
Alaba International Trade Fair Complex, situated in the Ojo district of Lagos.
The stockpile, which belonged to a wanted billionaire drug kingpin, included
1.4 million tablets of tramadol (225mg) weighing 826 kilograms, 3.2 million
codeine tablets with a total weight of 3,360 kilograms, and 2,841 crates of
codeine syrup holding 284,100 bottles, equivalent to 28,410 liters of the
psychoactive substance. The combined street value of these items was estimated
at N4,820,500,000.
The operation, which extended over several hours, culminated
in the arrest of a suspect named Paulinus Ojukwu. Ojukwu, who served as the
Chief Security Officer for the wanted drug kingpin posing as an automobile
spare parts dealer, is now cooperating in the ongoing investigation.
Babafemi additionally revealed that NDLEA operatives
conducted a stop-and-search operation along the Abaji-Lokoja Road in the
Federal Capital Territory, where they seized suspected counterfeit notes
amounting to $20 million from a bus traveling from Lagos to Abuja. The
53-year-old driver of the vehicle, Onyebuchi Nlededin, was apprehended.
On a previous day, August 17, Jude Ndubuisi, aged 52, was captured
with 2.2 kilograms of Methamphetamine during a mission at Kabusa village in
Abuja. This individual had previously been arrested on July 7, 2022, with 20.75
kilograms of cannabis and was out on court bail while facing prosecution for
the initial drug-related offense.
Furthermore, a raid on two notorious drug hotspots within the
Federal Capital Territory—Dei Dei and Tora-Bora Hills—resulted in the
confiscation of 82.8 kilograms of skunk, 1.8 kilograms of Rohypnol, and 1.2
kilograms of Diazepam on the preceding Wednesday.
Among the apprehensions, a 19-year-old named Boniface
Odinakachukwu was nabbed with 99.4 kilograms of skunk at Isikwe Road in the
Oji-River Local Government Area of Enugu State on August 18. Meanwhile, NDLEA
operatives took into custody a wanted teenage bandit, Aliyu Mohammed, aged 19,
along the Illela-Sokoto Road on August 17. The suspect, who was on the police’s
wanted list, was found with packets of skunk. He has been transferred to the
Sokoto State police for further inquiry.
