November 26, (THEWILL) – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Saturday, November 24, raided a party venue in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
In a statement on Sunday, Spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi, said the operatives stormed the venue, a lounge, where a night party organised for illicit substance abuse was going to be held and arrested some of the organisers, who were found with drug exhibits.
Babafemi said, “The raid followed credible intelligence that some persons were going to hold a night party tagged ‘Unholy Alliance for Stoners and Drunkards’ where different types of illicit substances were going to be sold and consumed by patrons.
“Soon after the organisers began to gather at Berrymist Lounge located at Ofatedo area of Osogbo to start the party, NDLEA operatives swooped on them, arrested them and recovered illicit substances of abuse and drug paraphernalia from them.
“Those arrested include Ikotu Omolayo, 25; Fola Olabode, 30, and Akorede Adunni Ajibola, 22. The management of the Lounge has also been invited for further investigation.
“This comes on the heels of an earlier raid on Thursday, 23rd Nov. at Area 5 Forest Reserve, Ile-Ife where operatives recovered 156kgs of cannabis sativa.”
Meanwhile, operatives in Ogun State, on Friday, November 24, arrested two suspects: Adamu Ibrahim and Nura Sani at Ileke trailer garage, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where 859 kilograms of cannabis sativa concealed among bags of sugar in a truck for onward transportation to Mokwa, Niger State.
The consignment was loaded in Ogbese, Ondo State and hidden among bags of cement in a truck before being transloaded into another trailer bearing sugar in Ogun State.
In Edo State, operatives on Monday, Nov. 20, stormed a warehouse at Obi Camp in Owan West LGA where they recovered 338kgs of cannabis concealed in sacks of charcoal, while in another operation in Ikhin forest, Owan East LGA, NDLEA officers seized 235kgs of the same psychoactive substance on Saturday, Nov. 25.
A suspect, Onah Kenneth Ikechukwu, 32, was arrested at Jattu, Etsako West LGA with 11,690 capsules of tramadol, 295 bottles of codeine syrup and various quantities of Molly, Cannabis and Methamphetamine on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
A similar raid in Lagos, on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at Enu Owa Street, Lagos Island led to the recovery of 40,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 440,000 pills of tramadol in a store belonging to a suspect, Ebuka Amechi, who is currently at large.
Not less than 135,600 capsules of tramadol and 950grams of cannabis were seized from two suspects: Afamefuna Ibekwe, 37, and Sunday Onweh, 41, at Nkpor, Akuzor and Ose-Ogbaijo, Onitsha, respectively.
While 37,360 pills of different opioids and 250 bottles of codeine syrup coming from Onitsha, Anambra en route Abuja were recovered from Muhammed Abba Khamis, 22, on Thursday, 23rd Nov. along Okene- Lokoja-Abuja expressway, operatives in Ekiti State seized a total of 288kgs of cannabis at Odo-Owa forest in Ijero LGA on Saturday, 25th Nov. At least, 116kgs of same psychoactive substance were seized from a suspect, Chinagoram Obaru, 24, who was arrested at Iju forest on Thursday, 23rd Nov.
In the same vein, Commands across the 36 states and the FCT equally continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation lectures in schools, communities, workplaces and others. Some of these include WADA sensitisation lectures for students and staff of Comprehensive High School, Abia, Udi LGA, Enugu; teachers and students of Dr. Nuhu Sanusi Junior/Senior Secondary School, Dutse, Jigawa; students of Haneef High School, Jos, Plateau; students of Akinorun Muslim Grammar School, Ikirun, Osun; students of Zaibadari Michika Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary School, Michika, Adamawa; and students of Madarasatul-Islamiya Baichin Kako, Marna Gusau, Zamfara state, among others.
Commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of the Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Ekiti, Kogi and Lagos Commands, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the Agency to continue to remain vigilant and double their efforts, especially with the desperation of criminal networks to make money by all means as the yuletide season approaches.
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