By Ismail Auwal
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 90-year-old retired soldier for allegedly supplying bandits with illicit drugs.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the suspect, identified as Usman Adamu, was arrested on August 3, 2022 in Mailalle, Sabon Birni LGA, Sokoto, with 5.1kg cannabis sativa.
Babafemi said in a separate operation, Solo Osamede, a 37-year-old indigene of Ovia LGA, Edo state, and resident in Italy, was arrested on July 30 at the Murtala Muhammed international airport, Lagos, for ingesting 41 wraps of heroin.
The suspect was arrested while attempting to board a Turkish Airline flight to Milan, Italy via Istanbul, Turkey.
“The swallowed wraps of the illicit drug were recovered in four excretions, which the suspect completed on Monday 1st Aug,” the statement reads.
“In the same vein, a female passenger, Jatau Lydia Lami, was arrested at the Lagos airport for attempting to export 1,700 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in her luggage to Istanbul, Turkey via a Turkish Airline flight on Sunday 31st July.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect, a mother of three, hails from Zango Kataf LGA, Kaduna State and lives in Istanbul, Turkey with her family. She blamed her action on pressure to raise N5million ransom to free her mother from the captivity of bandits who kidnapped her since June.
“In Zamfara, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 4th Aug, intercepted a truck from Benin, Edo state enroute Sokoto with 50,000 tablets of Diazepam owned by a drug dealer, Umaru Attahiru, while in Kogi, 14 sacks containing 1,376 bottles of codeine based syrup weighing 190.4kg were seized along Okene-Abuja highway on Wednesday 3rd Aug.
“The exhibits were found in a delivery bus coming from Onitsha, Anambra and heading to Abuja. Follow-up operation in Abuja same day led to the arrest of Jude Ikenna and Ozoemene Cornelius.”
The NDLEA also said in Kaduna, it arrested four suspects with 106,770 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, Diazepam, Exol-5, and 100 bottles of codeine cough syrup.
