Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a shipment of cocaine concealed in 20 sets of religious books going to Saudi Arabia.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement on Sunday, said the cocaine consignment consisting of 20 parcels with a total weight of 500grams and buried in the pages of the religious books was uncovered at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday 15th April 2025 when NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) were searching through export cargos going to Saudi Arabia at the logistics firm.
Babafemi said at another courier company on same day, NDLEA officers intercepted five parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 2.8 kilograms hidden in a carton coming from the United States of America.
The spokesman said in Kano, a 22-year-old supplier of illicit substances to bandits, Muhammad Mohammed, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bichi, Kano Road while heading to Katsina with 277 ampoules of pentazocine injection tied to his thigh and private part with Sellotape.
Babafemi said the suspect was intercepted on Sunday 13th April, while another suspect, Mohammed Abdulrahman Abdulaziz, 43, was nabbed same day at Research Rimin Kebe area of Nasarawa, Kano with 68 blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 30kg.
He also said not less than 557.2kg of skunk, 5.6kg of methamphetamine and 29.8grams of heroin were recovered from a house along Major General Isaiah Allison Street, Opolo, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state where four suspects were arrested when NDLEA operatives raided the premises on Wednesday 16th April.
Also, a total of 1,100 kilograms of skunk were recovered from a delivery van with the driver, Ismail Abdullahi arrested in Surulere area of Lagos on Thursday 17th April while NDLEA operatives in Kaduna on Friday 18th April raided the hideout of a suspect, Ike Ani, in Zaria, where no fewer than 31,950 pills of tramadol 225mg and diazepam were recovered.
At the Tincan seaport in Lagos, a suspect Basorun Usman Kayode, 40, who has been at large for two years was arrested by NDLEA officers in connection with the seizure of 107kg Loud imported from Canada in 2023, while another suspect, Dauda Yakubu who distributes illicit drugs within the seaport community was arrested by a team of operatives on Monday 14th April.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Kebbi, Osun, Zone 13, Edo and Tincan Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
