NDLEA Seizes Ammunition Cache From Female Bandit Supplier, Intercepts Colos Consignment In Boxing Kits

Officers from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) detained a shipment of Colorado, a potent cannabis strain, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on January 1, 2024, New Year’s Day. The shipment was hidden inside boxing kits that were brought in from the United States of America.

Olorunfunmi Olakunle, 38, who distributes the dangerous psychoactive substance to dealers throughout Lagos State, was successfully tracked down and arrested last Saturday, marking the culmination of a week-long intelligence-led operation to get the receiver arrested, according to a statement released on Sunday by the anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi.

According to Babafemi, the shipment arrived in the country on Monday through Cairo on an Egypt Airlines flight identified as boxing kits.

During questioning, Olakunle revealed that he had been delivering these consignments to various recipients whenever his childhood friend Sagir Salami, who is based in the US, sent them. A total of 1.8 kilogrammes make up the most recent shipment.

In another develomemt, Bilkisu Suleiman, a 28-year-old woman who supplies ammunition to bandits, topped the list of 12 other suspects detained by NDLEA agents during interdiction operations in Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun states on New Year’s Eve.

The statement claims that Suleiman was apprehended by NDLEA officers last Wednesday while they were patrolling the Zaria–Kano motorway. The officers found 249 rounds of live 7.62 mm ammunition hidden in a black nylon bag that was carried in Suleiman’s lady’s handbag.

She was being transported to the Nigeria Police Force’s Kaduna state command for additional investigation after being captured while en route to deliver ammunition to a known bandit in Kakumi village, Katsina state.

Last Tuesday, 63 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud, a cannabis strain weighing 2,104.2 kilogrammes, and a truck were transferred to the Lagos state command of NDLEA by military authorities at the Bonny camp cantonment in Lagos. The suspect, Francis Suru, 37, was also present.

According to Babafemi, on December 12, 2023, near the military cantonment gate in Bonny Camp, Victoria Island, NDLEA officers had earlier apprehended the suspect and the drug exhibits.

He stated that to hinder the operation, some armed escorts allegedly resorted to intermittent shooting. This development drew the attention of soldiers from the cantonment, who eventually intervened and took custody of the suspect and consignment before sending them to the agency.

Similarly, last Thursday, during a stop and search operation along the Suleja-Kaduna road in Niger State, NDLEA agents apprehended a J5 bus carrying 23 bags of cannabis sativa, totaling 219.5 kilogrammes, as it travelled from Ondo state to Zaria, Kaduna state. During the seizure, two suspects were taken into custody: 26-year-old Umar Musa and Isachiru Abubakar.

Babafemi also revealed that on Saturday, January 6, a female drug trafficker named Queen Onyema, 27, was apprehended in a commercial bus travelling from Abuja along the Okene-Lokoja motorway. Inside the bus were 12 compressed blocks of cannabis, weighing 4.6 kilogrammes, and 0.046 kilogrammes of designer drugs, all of which were hidden inside an indomie carton. On Monday, another suspect, Mubarak Sani, 20, was apprehended in the Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano, armed with 445.9 kilogrammes of the

Four suspects were apprehended in Borno at the Pomponari bye-pass area of the state, along with 60 kilogrammes of cannabis. They were Zanna Alhaji Dala, 32; Musa Umar, 21; Mushe Ibrahim, 23; and Shehu Idris, 19.

A shipment of illegal drugs that had been sent from Lagos to Osogbo via waybill was also intercepted by NDLEA agents in Osun who were patrolling the Osogbo-Ode Omu road on New Year’s Day. Ibrahim Olawale, 43, was apprehended following a follow-up operation. 10.8 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa, 150 grammes of loud, 19 grammes of Colorado, and 5 grammes of Molly are among the 10.974 kilogrammes of drugs that were found. Seized items included a digital scale, an N18,000 cash display, and specially designed wrapping paper for Colorado.

According to Babafemi, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Region’s NDLEA Commands kept up their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, and sensitization seminars in workplaces, communities, and schools.

While praising the recent arrests and seizures by officers and men of the MMIA, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun Commands, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd), charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency to remain vigilant and double their drug demand reduction as well as drug supply reduction efforts in the new year.