By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
A SEVENTY-five-old man, Uchelue Ikechukwu, was among six suspects arrested with illicit drugs in Anambra State as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intensified nationwide operations that also led to the destruction of 178,750 kilograms of cannabis on a 71.5-hectare farm in Taraba State.
NDLEA disclosed that Ikechukwu was apprehended at Umudioka, Dunukofia local government area of Anambra on Thursday 28 August with 26.7 kilograms of skunk.
Other suspects arrested in the state were identified as Eneh Makuo, Emmanuel Chiemeli, Uwakwe Matthew, Chukwujekwu Ehirim, Ifeanyichukwu Olisa and Odoh Chukwuma.
They were caught with varying quantities of skunk and opioids in Nkwelle and Amichi areas.
The agency stated that 30-year-old Alfa Andrew was arrested on Tuesday 26 August after operatives supported by the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Forest Security Service, the Mambila Youth Vanguard and local vigilantes stormed Mayodoga forest in Sardauna local government area of Taraba.
His 71.5-hectare farm was destroyed, with cannabis weighing 178,750 kilograms set ablaze. A Dane gun was also recovered during the operation.
At the Abuja-Kaduna tollgate on Friday 29 August, NDLEA intercepted 104,900 capsules of tramadol hidden in the driver’s compartment of a fuel tanker suspected to be heading towards insurgents in Borno State.
The driver, identified as Hassan Buba, was taken into custody.
A separate operation at Gwargwaje-Zaria checkpoint on Saturday 30 August led to the arrest of 45-year-old Kabir Sulaiman with 34.150 kilograms of skunk.
A major opioid supplier in Borno, 33-year-old Uchenna Umeh, was arrested in Maiduguri on Saturday 30 August following surveillance operations.
NDLEA recovered 30,640 pills of tramadol 225mg, 7,940 rohypnol tablets and cash totalling N7,999,200 in new N200 notes from his apartment at Chescon, Pompomary.
In Nasarawa, operatives arrested 36-year-old Abubakar Dauda on Thursday 28 August with 79,040 pills of tramadol and diazepam at Abacha Park, Mararaba Karu.
Two days earlier, 47-year-old Babangida Tungura had been arrested in Lafia with 30,410 pills of tramadol and rohypnol as well as 38 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup concealed in a freezer sent from Asaba, Delta State.
Further arrests were made in Adamawa where 23-year-old Mohammed Ali was picked up on Wednesday 27 August at Ngorore after 15,000 tramadol capsules concealed in sacks of animal feed were intercepted at Gombe mega park.
Separately, Hamisu Abdullahi was detained in Yola on Monday 25 August following the seizure of 79 blocks of skunk weighing 58 kilograms that had been hidden in sacks of pepper transported in a golf saloon car from Gombe State.
In Kano, suspects Ashiru Garba, 20, and Aminu Abdu, 22, were arrested on Tuesday 26 August along Kano-Hadeja road with 1.5 kilograms of skunk and 25,000 pills of exol-5.
On Thursday 28 August, Ali Muhammad, 37, and Muhammad Maishanu, 42, were apprehended along Zaria-Kano Road, Gadan Tamburawa, with 8,080 bottles of new psychoactive substances and 25.7 kilograms of skunk.
A further 250,000 tablets of exol-5 were seized from 25-year-old Alhasaan Musa in Zango, Ungogo local government area, on Saturday 30 August.
In Edo State, 64,250 opioid pills mainly tramadol were intercepted along Ewu-Auchi road, Etsako West, in a commercial bus travelling from Onitsha to Okene.
The suspect, 36-year-old Mohammed Halidu, was taken into custody. Ondo State operatives arrested two suspects, Elves Odogwu, 45, and David Jeremiah, 35, on Wednesday 27 August at Queen Elizabeth Aponmun Reserved Camp with 117.5 kilograms of processed cannabis and seeds.
NDLEA confirmed that a total of 164 kilograms of skunk was recovered in Lagos where a suspect, Michael Ayodele, was arrested in Mushin on Saturday 30 August.
In Ekiti, operatives carried out one of the state’s largest seizures of Loud and Colorado cannabis strains when they raided Nova Street, Ado-Ekiti, on Friday 29 August.
A drug kingpin, Ajayi Ayodeji Idowu, also known as Atiku, was arrested with 5.3 kilograms of Loud and Colorado and 2.5 grams of methamphetamine.
The agency added that sensitisation activities under its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative continued across the country.
These included lectures to secondary school students in Onitsha, engagements with youths of the Anglican Diocese in Abakaliki, and advocacy visits to traditional rulers and officials including the Akran of Badagry, the Olofin of Isheri, the First Lady of Ogun State and the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Chairman and Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired), commended commands in Anambra, Taraba, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Gombe, Lagos, Ekiti, Ondo and Edo for their arrests and seizures. He also praised officers across all states for intensifying WADA sensitisation efforts in communities, schools, workplaces and places of worship.
There’s a serious epidemic of drug abuse in Nigeria. Despite the efforts of NDLEA, the scourge of drugs is spreading and intensifying among our youths and young adults. From motor parks to schools, from street corners to worship centers, no where is safe!
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