No less than Fourteen Million, Four Hundred and Eighty One Thousand, Five Hundred and Nineteen (14, 481, 519) pills of Tramadol and bottles of codeine syrup worth over Thirteen Billion Naira (N13,000,000,000) in street value have been recovered by operatives of the National Drug Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, in three major busts of drug cartels operating in Amuwo Odofin, Idumota and the SAHCO shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos.
The three intelligence-led operations began with the raid of House 8/10 Hon. Wahuha Avenue, Divine Estate, Ago Palace area of Amuwo Odofin on Sunday 29th October, where 490,000 pills of tramadol and 81,519 bottles of codeine syrup measuring 4, 510, 000mls were recovered.
In a similar operation on Tuesday 31st October, NDLEA operatives swooped on a secret warehouse operated by a billionaire Idumota trader, Nwaoha Anayo located at Onitire, Aguda area of Surulere where Twelve Million Seven Hundred Thousand (12, 700, 000) pills of tramadol were recovered.
While operatives in Osun on Saturday 4th November stormed the Obada sawmill forest in Owena-Ijesa, Oriade LGA where they arrested a suspect, Monday Sylvester, 37, on a 6.01 hectares of cannabis farm which was destroyed and 489.8kgs already processed plant recovered, their colleagues in Edo raided a trans-loading point inside Avbiosi forest, Owan West LGA where 603 kilograms of the illicit substance were seized.
Also, NDLEA officers in Ogun state on Friday 3rd November recovered a Toyota Sienna bus from a ditch, at Ajebo Area, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
A search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 460kgs of the same substance, while a total of 116.5kgs of cannabis sativa belonging to a suspect at large were seized at Olagunju, Mushin area of Lagos.
The Commands and formations of the Agency continued their war against drug abuse, WADA, advocacy lectures across the country.
Some of the sensitization lectures in the past week were organized by: Zone N command of NDLEA in collaboration with the Akwa Ibom state command for principals of secondary schools in the state;
Kano state command at Government Science and Technical College, Wudil; Gombe state command for students of Haruna Rasheed College of Health Sciences, Dukku; Anambra state command for students of Community Secondary School, Ezi-Awka; Zone I command in collaboration with Osun command of the Agency and the State Ministry of Education for over 320 secondary school principals in the state; Oyo State command at Anglican Grammar School, Starlight, Ogbomoso with 2,032 students in attendance and Ogun state command for students and staff of Gateway Junior Secondary School, Abeokuta.
While commending the officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, Lagos, Osun, Edo and FCT Commands as well as those of DOGI for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them and their compatriots across the country to remain focused as the Agency expands its operations against drug cartels.
