GUARDIAN
•Seizes drug consignments hidden in imported car, food items
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Saturday, April 29, 2013, raided a clandestine factory in Mubi, Adamawa State, where a new psychoactive substance, Akuskura, was being produced in large quantity and distributed to Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic.
At the time of the raid, production activities were ongoing in the premises.
The operatives also seized 126 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of Cannabis sativa, weighing 63 kilogrammes concealed in a used Toyota Corolla car imported from Toronto, Canada at the Tincan port in Lagos.
This is even as an attempt by a freight agent, Mordi Chukwuemeka Samuel, to export 900 grammes of the same substance, Loud, hidden inside walls of a travelling bag containing food items, to Kenya, was thwarted by NDLEA officers at the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
When Mordi presented the bag, which he claimed contained food items for export, operatives noticed that in the course of searching the consignment, the sidewalls of the bag were unevenly bloated, after which they dismantled the false packing and recovered the illicit substance.
The previous day, Friday, April 28, 2023, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port intercepted 63kg Canadian Loud packed in bags in the boot of one of the five used vehicles in a container marked TLLU4840762 coming from Toronto via Montreal, during a joint examination with other stakeholders at the port.
Similarly, men of the Agency’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), attached to courier firms, on Thursday, April 27, intercepted 1.53kg skunk concealed in old hard drives meant for export to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Skunk is made from Cannabis plants.
In Benue, operatives recovered 859 bottles of codeine based syrup weighing 117.3kg abandoned by a suspected dealer about two kilometres away from NDLEA check point along Enugu – Otukpo road on Wednesday April 26, while two suspects: Kabiru Muhammed, 35, and Isah Muhammed, 28, were arrested with 20 blocks of Cannabis weighing 11.2kg concealed in a bag of cassava flakes (garri) along Zaria-Kano road, Kano on Friday April 28.
Also, no fewer than seven bags of Cannabis sativa with a gross weight of 74.5kg were recovered when operatives raided an uncompleted building located in a bush at Ala town, Akure area of Ondo State just as 60kg of the same substance concealed among foot wears in two jumbo sacks was recovered from one Aminu Mohammed along Ibadan – Oyo road, Oyo state while waiting to board a vehicle to Kebbi State.
MEANWHILE, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the officers and men of MMIA, Tincan, DOGI, Kano, Ondo, Oyo, Benue and Adamawa Commands of the Agency for their vigilance and professionalism in the discharge of their responsibilities.
He charged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars.
