An 80-room new hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos used as cover for distributing illicit substances has been raided by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
A statement by Mr. Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, stated that after hours of combing the hotel rooms, NDLEA operatives recovered 589 bags of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis with a total weight of 417.3 kilograms worth One Billion Forty-Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (₦1,042,500,000) only in street value.
At least, three suspects: Eze Ayitu; Ofuokwu Samuel; and Emmanuel Ameh were arrested in the course of the operation at the five-storey hotel building between Friday 25th and Saturday 26th April while two other suspects: Noble Philip and his partner Kenneth are currently at large.
Items suspected to be proceeds of illicit drug trade recovered from the premises housing ‘The Hook Hotel’ also known as Caesar Hotel and Caesar Lounge located at 16 Waziri Ibrahim Street, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, include: Toyota Prado Landcruiser Jeep (Lagos AKD 472 OZ); Toyota Sienna Vehicle (Lagos KJA 79 HJ); Volkswagen Delivery Van (Lagos AAA 525 JE); Kia Ceranto Car (Lagos BDG 860 GQ); Grand Caravan Dodge (Lagos APP 847 YF); 74 new TV sets; 10 used TV sets; and 13 refrigerators, among others.
In another major interdiction in Jigawa State, with a follow-up operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives, acting on intelligence, on Wednesday, April 23, seized consignments of opioids being moved from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe State through Jigawa.
Babafemi revealed that the psychoactive substances were being transported in a Toyota Sienna vehicle marked ABJ 182 NW at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, along Kano- Ringim road, Gumel town, when anti-narcotic officers on patrol intercepted them with two suspects, Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar, 29, arrested.
Not less than 200,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin were recovered from the Sienna vehicle.
Similarly, a swift follow-up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the supplier, Jamilu Muhammad, 41, at his residence located in Mil Tara, Layin Technical area of Kano while additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol (250mg), stacked inside a Nissan 18-seater bus marked DAL 372 XA, and stored in a room at his house, were discovered and evacuated.
“This brings the total number of the recovered opioids to 2,001,500 pills,” the spokesperson said, stressing that barely a week after NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) uncovered 20 parcels of cocaine concealed inside religious books being sent to Saudi Arabia at a logistics company in Lagos, the operatives intercepted another shipment of 46 wraps of cocaine weighing 547 grams, hidden in body cream,also headed to the Middle East country.
The seizure occurred on Wednesday, April 23, at a courier firm in Lagos – and another consignment intercepted on the same day included 1.8kg of pentazocine injection and 60 grams of bromazepam tablets, heading to Canada.
At the Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, three Ghanaian ladies were apprehended on Sunday, April 20, at the Gbaji check point by NDLEA operatives while attempting to smuggle combined 4.8 kilograms of Ghana Loud (a strong strain of cannabis) into Nigeria.
The suspects arrested in connection with this act are Haziza Zubairu, 42; Samirat Mustapha, 43; and Jamila Salifu, 26.
In Kano, a grandmother, Safiya Shamsu, 60, was nabbed on Friday, April 25, at Samegu area of Kumbotso LGA with 5.6 kg of skunk (a strain of cannabis), while another suspect Muntari Labaran, 35, was taken into custody after 100 litres of codeine syrup were seized from him at Yelwa area of Dala LGA.
The statement added: “A total of 3,814.9kg skunk was destroyed on two farms in Ugbodu community, Ovia North East LGA, Edo State on Thursday 24th April when NDLEA operatives raided the plantations where three suspects: Samuel Samson, 26; Daniel Peter, 20; and Abel Edah, 31, were arrested.”
Meanwhile, the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by the agency’s Commands continued across the country in the past week.
The activities included a WADA sensitisation lecture delivered to students and staff of Dan-Doro Community Arabic Secondary School, Doro, Katsina; St. James Anglican School, Badariya, Kebbi; Federal Government Girls College, Tambuwal, Sokoto; and members of the Oganiru age grade, Onitsha, Anambra.
Additionally, the Lagos State Strategic Command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, HRM Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi, among others.
Reacting to the arrests and seizures of the past week, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended the officers and men of DOGI, Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Edo and Seme Commands of the Agency.
Marwa also lauded their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
