The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted cocaine consignments concealed inside a locally made mortar and the false bottom of a backpack allegedly being smuggled to China and Italy, as the agency intensified its crackdown on drug trafficking across the country.
The agency also arrested an alleged notorious drug dealer in Rivers State, intercepted a truck loaded with 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup in Anambra State, and recovered large quantities of cannabis and other illicit substances in Delta, Nasarawa and Zamfara states.
The NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday.
According to him, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations uncovered the cocaine consignments during routine checks at a logistics company in Lagos.
Babafemi said officers discovered 250 grams of cocaine expertly concealed inside the base of a locally manufactured mortar packaged for export to China.
He added that another 500 grams of cocaine was found hidden in the false compartment of a backpack being prepared for shipment to Italy.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old suspect, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, during an intelligence-led operation at Eagle Island in Port Harcourt.
The agency described the suspect as a notorious drug dealer.
Babafemi said the suspect was arrested on July 26 with different quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives conducting stop-and-search duties at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha, Anambra State, intercepted a truck with registration number XK 131 BDG conveying 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing about 3,960 kilograms.
The truck driver, identified as 40-year-old Chinedu Nwanze, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
Similarly, officers recovered 331.84 kilograms of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale-Ughelli Expressway in Delta State on July 26.
In Nasarawa State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, at Asso Angwan Muazu in Karu on July 28.
The agency said he was found with 68 kilograms of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine.
Also in Zamfara State, officers on patrol along the Zaria-Gusau highway intercepted a 27-year-old suspect, Sani Umar, with 7,400 tablets of 225mg tramadol.
According to the agency, preliminary investigations indicated that the consignment was suspected to be meant for criminal elements, including bandits, operating in the state.
Beyond enforcement operations, the NDLEA said it continued its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse campaign through sensitisation programmes targeted at schools, transport workers and communities.
The agency said awareness lectures were organised for students and staff of Hausawa Special Primary School in Kano, Royal Crown School in Oluyole, Ibadan, Government Secondary School, Ibi, Taraba State, as well as commercial drivers at the Challenge Bus Terminal in Ibadan.
Commending officers involved in the operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, urged commands nationwide to sustain the agency’s strategy of combining aggressive enforcement with preventive education to combat drug trafficking and abuse across the country.
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