NDLEA Intercepts Tons Of Laughing Gas, Other Hard Drugs

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA says it has arrested no fewer than 13 suspects with four tons of illicit and controlled drugs including consignments of nitrous oxide popularly known as laughing gas, skunk, codeine syrup, methamphetamine, and tramadol in seven states within one week.

NDLEA in a statement by the aagency’sDirector Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi says between Monday and Wednesday, busted some forests in Ijesha Isu-Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti state, where the cannabis farmland was discovered and set ablaze, destroying about 40 tons of cannabis plants.

According to the statement, “In a massive operation between Monday 11th and Wednesday 13th September, NDLEA operatives stormed thick forests in Ijesha Isu-Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti state, where they destroyed 40 tons (40,000 kilograms) of cannabis plants covering 16 hectares of farmland.”

It notes that the NDLEA operatives on Friday, along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road intercepted two Sienna buses conveying 1,194 cylinders of nitrous oxide popularly known as laughing gas which weighed 2,547.2 kilograms meant for delivery in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

“No fewer than 1,194 cylinders of laughing gas with a total weight of 2,547.2 kilograms loaded in two Toyota Sienna buses were on Friday 22nd September intercepted by NDLEA operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway. Two suspects: Onyebuchi Ikpozu and Kenneth Igwe who were taking the consignments to the nation’s Federal Capital Territory for distribution have been arrested and taken into custody.”

The statement says it intercepted a trailer with registration number LSR 343 XW with 959kgs of skunk concealed in Maggi cartons meant for distribution in Sokoto and Abuja while two suspects, Shuaibu Yusif and Abubakar Hussaini, were arrested for illegal possession of 89.1kgs of skunks in Jigawa.

“In the FCT, operatives intercepted 977 kilograms of skunk on Wednesday 20th September in a trailer marked LSR 343 XW, bearing cartons of mMaggi The skunk consignment was loaded into the truck at Ipele junction in Ondo state. While 959kgs of the substance were meant for distribution in Sokoto state, the rest was to be dropped off at Gwagwalada. Two suspects: Auwal Mohammed and Abdullahi Abubakar have been arrested in connection with the seizure, while two other suspects: Mutari Abdulazeez, 31, and Ayuba Madaki, 28, were also arrested on Saturday 23rd September in the Zuba area of the FCT with different quantities of methamphetamine, cannabis and 13, 930 pills of tramadol.

“In the same vein, Shuaibu Yusif, 27, and Abubakar Hussaini, 20, were on Saturday 23rd September nabbed with 89.1kgs of skunk along Kano -Hadejia road, Jigawa state during a stop and search patrol by NDLEA operatives.”

The statement further explains that in another operation in Kaduna and Lagos, the agency intercepted 6,000 ampules of pentazocine injection with the suspected owner of the consignment arrested in Bauchi while 183kgs of Ghana Loud concealed in the body compartments of a bus was intercepted in Lagos.