By Adedapo Adesanya
Some anti-narcotic officers attached to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended the manufacturer of a new psychoactive substance popularly called Akuskura, Mr Qasim Ademola.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday, September 15 along Zaria-Kano road, Gadar Tamburawa, Kano with 26,600 bottles of the illicit substance meant for distribution across Northern states.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, disclosed that the 39-year-old proprietor from Akinyele LGA, Oyo State was nabbed along with three of his distributors.
Also, last week, the agency arrested an ex-convict, Mr Onyeka Charles Madukolu, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos for importing 5.90 kilograms of cocaine concealed in cans of deodorants and ladies’ lip gloss into Nigeria.
It was stated that the 44-year-old man was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Ethiopia for drug trafficking offences and released from prison in 2020.
Last Friday, at the Lagos airport on his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, a search of his luggage revealed he had concealed 5.90kg of cocaine inside cans of deodorants and female lip gloss.
“During the preliminary interview, he claimed to have gone into the drug business to raise fresh capital to start a legitimate business after his release from Ethiopian prison in 2020,” the statement said.
According to the anti-narcotic agency, the suspect, a father of two kids, one from a Nigerian woman and a Brazilian lady, said he was in the motor spare parts business before going into the criminal trade.
The indigene of Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State told NDLEA officials that he was expecting to be paid N2 million on the successful delivery of the illicit drug in Nigeria.
Similarly, another suspected trafficker, Mr Chukwu Kingsley, was apprehended on Tuesday, September 15, on his way to Rome, Italy, via an Asky Airline flight.
The 49-year-old suspect, who hails from Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State, was said to have concealed, among food condiments, 11,460 tablets of tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 5.7kg and 39 bottles of codeine syrup.
Also at the Lagos airport, a freight agent, Lawal Adeyemi, was arrested the same day for attempting to export some sachets of lexotan among other non-controlled drugs, to Liberia. At the same time, operatives equally seized 593.90 kilograms of khat leaf at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Thursday 15th Sept. after a joint examination of the cargo by a combined team of security agencies.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene-Abuja Expressway intercepted a J5 vehicle in Kogi state on Saturday, September 17.
The vehicle, which was coming from Onitsha enroute Kaduna-Zaria, was intercepted with 18 pieces of pump action rifles and 1,300 cartridges. The two suspects conveying the arms and ammunition, Mr Chukwudi Aronu, 51, and Mr Shuaibu Gambo, 23, were arrested.
Another suspect, Mr Anthony Agada, 37, conveying 1,000 cartridges, was equally nabbed in a bus coming from Onitsha to Abuja the same day, while 1,404 bottles of codeine syrup and 2,040 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized from another vehicle coming from Onitsha enroute Sokoto, with the receiver, Mr Stanley Raymond, 39, and the sender, Mr Shadrack Ifediora, 46, arrested in follow up operations in Sokoto and Anambra respectively.
In Kaduna, a drug dealer, Mr Mohammed Mustapha Dalhatu, a.k.a Dawa, was arrested at Sabon Gari Zaria with eight bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing 67kg, and another, Maikudi Hassan, was arrested at Gubuci village of Ikara LGA with five bags of cannabis weighing 54.2kg.
On Thursday, September 15, operatives also arrested Mary Ugwu and Hawwa Idi at Anchau town, Kubau LGA, with 721 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 37,000 tablets of exol-5 and nine ampoules of diazepam injection, as well as 6.8kg of rubber solution.
In Edo, operatives recovered 285kg of cannabis in two raids at Okpuje, on Friday, September 16, while in Lagos, 972.5kg of the same substance was recovered from an electronic shop at Alaba Int’l market and one of the suspects, Mrs Ebere Aja, 38, arrested. No less than 335.1kg of cannabis was also seized in a raid at Kwanar Kundum area of Bauchi town, with two suspects: Usman Garba and Najib Ibrahim, arrested.
Modupe Gbadeyanka