NDLEA INTERCEPTS DRUGS HIDDEN IN BREAD, ARRESTS REAL ESTATE AGENT

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has uncovered several consignments of illicit drugs concealed in everyday items, including loaves of bread and music speakers, during operations across different parts of the country. The agency said the operations led to the arrest of at least seven suspects and the recovery of synthetic cannabis, opioids and other controlled substances.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted a UK-bound consolidated cargo containing 27 parcels of Colorado, weighing 32.20kg. A 41-year-old real estate agent, Abideen Jide Salami, was arrested on September 9 after allegedly arriving to collect a large luggage containing the drugs using a secret collection code reportedly sent to him by his brother based in the United Kingdom.

A follow-up investigation also led to the arrest of Nurudeen Abiodun Kadiri, 44, who was allegedly expecting another consignment of Colorado weighing 12.25kg from his brother in the UK. The NDLEA said the two UK-linked consignments contained a combined 44.45kg of synthetic cannabis. In Lagos, officers also intercepted Colorado concealed inside music speakers at Maza-Maza Motor Park and arrested Ifeanyi Obed Augustine, 41, and Obasi Ugochukwu, 46, in connection with the shipment.

The agency further reported the seizure of 1,700 diazepam tablets concealed inside loaves of bread during a stop-and-search operation along the Zaria-Kano-Hadejia Road. The drugs were recovered from Habibu Sabitu, 28, while another suspect, Saidu Adamu, 20, was arrested in Kano with 785,000 pregabalin capsules weighing 669.425kg. In Delta State, separate operations also led to the recovery of pentazocine injections, codeine syrup, tramadol, diazepam, flunitrazepam and MDMA, with some of the substances hidden inside music speakers.

The NDLEA also reported other major cannabis seizures in Edo, Ondo, Kaduna and Bayelsa states, including the destruction of 4,832.56kg of cannabis on farms in Edo. The agency's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers involved and directed them to sustain efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks operating through airports, land borders, motor parks and other routes across the country.