At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide was on Wednesday 21st May arrested by NDLEA operatives while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Abuja via Addis Ababa to Milan Malpensa, Italy.

A search conducted on his luggage led to the recovery of 10,280 pills of Tramaking 225mg; Tramadol 200mg and Tapentadol 250mg. The opioids were concealed using foil paper and hidden inside a carton, in a suitcase, obviously to evade detection.

In yet another operation at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) concealed in bicycle luggage carrier heading to Netherlands; 66 pills of tramadol 225mg hidden in soap container going to the United States and 18 tablets of tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream container heading to the United Kingdom.

In Edo state, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence raided Igwe community in Owan East LGA where a total of 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489kg and cannabis seeds weighing 9kg were recovered.

While a suspect Isah Sani, 30, was nabbed with 196,000 pills of exol-5 on Wednesday 20th May along Zaria/Kano road, Kano state, NDLEA officers at Seme border, Badagry area of Lagos recovered 59kg skunk from a warehouse in Mowo, Badagry on Tuesday 19th May.

Another operational success was recorded in Ekiti state where NDLEA operatives on Saturday 23rd May raided a warehouse located at N/56, Ikoyi community, Ikole-Ekiti and recovered 1,116 kilograms of skunk, while 54-year-old suspect Ogundana Adebayo Julius was arrested in connection with the seizure.

With the same zeal, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Command Day School, Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo state; Girls Secondary School, Amenyi, Anambra; Matazu Model Primary School, Matazu LGA, Katsina; C&S Primary School, Majidun, Ikorodu, Lagos; Alufo High School, Apugo, Enugu; Aramoko District Commercial Secondary School, Aramoko Ekiti; and Government Girls Secondary School, Kurna, Kano state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of MMIA, NAIA, AIIA, Edo, Ekiti, Seme, and Kano Commands as well as those of DOGI for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitization activities while he charged them and their compatriots across the country to continue to raise the operational bar.