Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 30-year-old driver, Hassan Ade, transporting 696.5kgs cannabis sativa loaded in Idoani, Ondo State, to be delivered at Gwagwalada and Dei-Dei in Abuja, on Tuesday February 6, 2024.

Director, Media and Advocacy of the agency, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Sunday.

He said a follow-up operation led to the arrest of a 42-year-old woman, Joy Chukwuka, linked with the consignment.

Babafemi added that the anti-narcotic officers also arrested a 27-year-old suspect, Abdulhameed Dauda, with 89kgs of the same substance loaded into his truck in Owo, Ondo State, to be delivered at Gwagwalada in Abuja same day.

He disclosed that apart from the seizure of 633.5kgs cannabis at Eleyere, Ogbese in Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State, the NDLEA operatives also recovered 59 jumbo bags of the same substance loaded in a truck marked GAD 287 XA heading to the Northern part of the country.

“Detergents were sprayed on the cannabis bags ostensibly to suppress the odour of the psychoactive weed, while 192 packs of table water were loaded on top to conceal the illicit consignment,” he added.

The spokesperson of the anti-narcoticagency added that one Ahmad Mohammed, a 42-year-old suspected supplier of illicit drugs to insurgents in the Banki area of Borno State has been apprehended.

He said Mohammed was arrested while taking thousands of concealed opioid pills to insurgents’ enclave in Banki, a border region between Nigeria and

He was apprehended by the NDLEA operatives at a checkpoint in the Bama area of Borno State on Friday, February 9, 2024.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, February 11, said when the suspect’s luggage was searched, 20,000 capsules of tramadol were recovered from him while on his way to deliver the opioid consignment in the border town.

Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), as commending the anti-narcotic officers for the arrests and seizures and urging them and their compatriots across the country to always strive to surpass past feats in their drug supply and demand reduction efforts.