By Olukayode Idowu
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have seized at the Tincan port in Lagos 126 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 63 kilogrammes concealed in a used Toyota Corolla car imported from Toronto, Canada.
This is even as an attempt by a freight agent, Mordi Chukwuemeka Samuel, to export 900 grammes of the same substance, Loud, hidden inside walls of a travelling bag containing food items, to Kenya, was thwarted by anti-narcotics officers at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on Saturday.
A statement by the spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi on Sunday read that when Mordi presented the bag, which he claimed contained food items for export, operatives noticed that in the course of searching the consignment, the side walls of the bag were unevenly bloated, after which they dismantled the false packings and recovered the illicit substance.
He disclosed that on Friday, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port intercepted 63 kilogrammes Canadian Loud packed in bags in the boot of one of the five used vehicles in a container marked, TLLU4840762 coming from Toronto via Montreal, during a joint examination with other stakeholders at the port.
Similarly, men of the agency’s Directorate of Operations and Investigation (DOGI) attached to courier firms last Thursday intercepted 1.53 kilogrammes skunk concealed in old hard drives meant for export to Dubai, United Arab Emirate.
In Benue, operatives recovered 859 bottles of codeine based syrup weighing 117.3 kilogrammes abandoned by a suspected dealer about two kilometres away from NDLEA check point along Enugu – Otukpo road last Wednesday, while two suspects: Kabiru Muhammed, 35, and Isah Muhammed, 28, were arrested with 20 blocks of cannabis weighing 11.2 kilogrammes concealed in a bag of cassava flakes (garri) along Zaria-Kano road, Kano last Friday.
He disclosed that no fewer than seven bags of cannabis with a gross weight of 74.5 kilogrammes were recovered when operatives raided an uncompleted building located in a bush in Ala town, Akure area of Ondo state just as 60 kilogrammes of the same substance concealed among footwears in two jumbo sacks were recovered from one Aminu Mohammed along Ibadan – Oyo road, Oyo state while waiting to board a vehicle to Kebbi State.
In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives last Saturday raided a clandestine factory in Mubi, where a new psychoactive substance, Akuskura, was being produced in large quantity and distributed to Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic. He said that at the time of the raid, production activities were ongoing in the premises. Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending the officers and men of MMIA, Tincan, DOGI, Kano, Ondo, Oyo, Benue and Adamawa Commands of the agency for their vigilance and professionalism in the discharge of their responsibilities, however charged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars.
