Multi-billion Naira worth of illicit drugs have again been seized at a warehouse tucked in the midst of the popular International Trade Fair Complex, Alaba, in Ojo area of Lagos State, South-West Nigeria by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
According to the Agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, items recovered from the warehouse owned by a wanted billionaire drug baron, include 1.4 million pills of Tramadol 225mg weighing 826 kilogrammes; 3.2 million pills of Codeine with gross weight of 3,360 kilogrammes; and 2,841 cartons of Codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles with 28,410 litres of the psychoactive substance, with a combined street value of over N40.82 billion.
During the operation that lasted hours, a suspect, Paulinus Ojukwu, who is the Chief Security Officer to the wanted drug baron who parades as an automobile spare parts dealer, was arrested and is now assisting with ongoing investigation.
The latest drug warehouse bust is coming on the heels of the arrest of a drug baroness, Faith Ebele Nwankwo who was nabbed on Wednesday, August 9 with 2,750,000 pills of tramaking, a brand of tramadol 225mg and 250mg recovered from her residence at House 6, C Close, 3rd Avenue, Festac area of Lagos and a warehouse located at Plot 3432 Sola Akinsola Street, Divine Estate, Amuwo Odofin in Lagos State.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Friday, August 18 intercepted $20 million suspected to be counterfeit during a stop and search operation along Abaji-Lokoja Expressway, within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The suspected fake money was recovered from a bus coming from Lagos to Abuja, while the 53-year-old driver of the vehicle, Onyebuchi Nlededin was arrested. The previous day, Thursday, August 17, Jude Ndubuisi, 52, was arrested with 2.2 kilogrammes of Methamphetamine during a raid operation at Kabusa village in FCT. The suspect was initially arrested with 20.75 kilogrammes of Cannabis on July 7, 2022 and was on court bail following his ongoing prosecution when he was nabbed for yet another drug crime. Another raid of two notorious drug joints within the FCT including in Dei Dei and Tora-Bora Hills led to the recovery of 82.8 kilogrammes of Skunk, 1.8 kilogrammes of Rohypnol and 1.2 kilogrammes of Diazepam on Wednesday, August 16.
MUST READ: NDLEA denies appointment of Naira Marley as its Ambassador
In Osun State, NDLEA operatives in the early hours of Saturday, August 19 destroyed clusters of Cannabis farms measuring about 3.49000 hectares (over 7.5 tons) at Mopatedo in Ifedayo Local Government Area of the State. Two suspects: Sunday Otogbo, 40, and Peter Andel Makra, 35, were arrested inside the Cannabis farms. Additional 30 kilogrammes of Cannabis weeds and 16.9 kilogrammes of Cannabis seeds were also recovered from the farms.
At least, three suspects including Ndubuisi Okorie, 44; Ebilima Emmanuel, 38, and Okechukwu Anthony Smart, 40, were arrested in connection with the seizure of 168 kilogrammes of Cannabis consignment in their vehicle intercepted along Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Imo State, South-East Nigeria on Saturday, August 19. Another shipment of controlled drugs containing 6,000 capsules of Tramadol, 1,200 tablets of Swinol, 155 bottles of Codeine syrup and 20 tablets of Molly was equally seized on the same road on Sunday, August 13 while a follow-up operation in Oyigbo area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, South-South Nigeria led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Remigius Ogechukwu, 33.
While a teenager, Boniface Odinakachukwu, 19, was apprehended with 99.4 kilogrammes of Skunk at Isikwe Road, Achi in Oji-River LGA of Enugu State, South-East Nigeria on Friday, August 18, a wanted teenage bandit, Aliyu Mohammed Altine, 19, was arrested by NDLEA operatives along Illela-Sokoto Road with some wraps of Skunk on Thursday, August 17. The suspect who is on the wanted list of the police has since been transferred to the Police in Sokoto State for further investigation.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
