National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized cocaine and methamphetamine consignments worth over N4.1billion in street value from a cartel controlled by an alleged drug baron, 49-year-old Kelechi Monday Nwaobasi and his 50-year-old elder sister, Ms. Chinwe Rose Nwaobasi.
The cartel was also taken down following their arrests in their hideout in Aba, Abia State.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said that the special operation conducted on Thursday and Friday last week at 3B, Boundary Avenue, Aba and a residence along Ohia road, Ohia, Abia State followed months of intelligence gathering, leading to the arrest of the ring leaders and the combined seizure of 20.76 kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine from them.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives in Lagos State have uncovered an expansive warehouse stocked with a large consignment of codeine-based syrup, located at Comfort Oboh area of Kirikiri, where four persons connected with the importation and distribution of the opioid were arrested during an intelligence-led raid on the facility.
Those arrested include Kingsley Amanambu Obumneke, 38; Emeka Emmanuel, 48; Bonaventure Ugochukwu, 59; and Martin Dike, 56, while a total of 82,000 bottles of the opioid worth more than N600million in street value, Toyota Tacuma truck and two buses used for distributing the substance were recovered from the premises on Monday June 10, 2024 when NDLEA officers conducted the operation.
The NDLEA spokesperson further explained that two days after, Wednesday, June 12, operatives intercepted another suspect, Ibrahim Abdulhamid, with 29,100 pills of tramadol and other opioids as well as 3.9 litres of codeine syrup at Alaba Suru, Ojo local council area of the state.
A total of 230,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg were recovered from the duo of Yasir Rabi’u, 23, and Abubakar Ado, 30, who are major distributors of illicit drugs in Kano and Jigawa states, when they were arrested on Monday, June 10, at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano.
In the same vein, another suspect, Hassan Abdullahi Ali, 25, was nabbed with 150 bottles of codeine syrup at the Kofar Nassarawa area of Kano on Tuesday, June 11.
In Ogun State, NDLEA operatives on Monday, June 10, seized 390kg of cannabis and arrested the trio of Muhammad Sani, Nura Mohammad and Samaila Rabe during an early morning raid at Ibese area of the state, while officers on Wednesday, June 12, bust a skuchies-making factory in the Sabo area of Shagamu town, where seven suspects were arrested.
They include Kareem Jamiu, Oriyimi Ayo, Bamidele Wasiu, Rasheed Olarewanju, Ramota Lawal, Amudalat Olarewanju, and Adeniyi Omotosho.
Exhibits recovered from them include 387 litres of scrunchies; 70 litres of industrial codeine; 25kg of cannabis, and different quantities of tramadol, phenol, and diazepam, as well as various equipment used in the production of the new psychoactive substance.
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