By Iyobhebhe Gift Osareme (IT Student, Ambrose Ali University)
Femi Babafemi, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s Director for Media and Advocacy, revealed in a statement on February 4, 2024, that NDLEA officials discovered Ghanaian cannabis smuggled into Lagos. The substance, totaling 14,524.8 kilograms, arrived in two trucks and a J5 bus.
In the early hours of Sunday, January 28, three vehicles transporting the large bags of the substance were intercepted and seized at Ojuelegba, Lagos.
During the operation, Mushin-based drug baron Suleiman Jimoh, working with the wanted Akala, was apprehended, while two other drivers managed to escape.
Over the past three years, NDLEA has intercepted numerous shipments of this specific mind-altering substance, valued at billions of naira, linked to Temo, a notorious drug lord who remains at large.
The agency continues its active pursuit of Temo and conducts a manhunt to bring him to justice.
In various parts of the country, NDLEA officers have made arrests related to illegal substances. In Zaria, Kaduna state, they arrested a deaf and mute suspect selling 150 grams of cannabis.
In another incident, Ibrahim Sani, aged 56, was apprehended in Tirkaniya with 51 kilograms of the same substance.
On January 31, 2024, NDLEA operatives arrested four individuals in Kogi and Nassarawa. Samuel Atonila, owner of a two-acre farmland in Iluke community, Kabba-Bunu LGA, Kogi state, was found with 833.32 kilograms of cannabis sativa, which was discovered and destroyed. Additionally, Muhammed Musa, Bilyaminu Musa, and Sadiya Ya’u were apprehended with 24.4kg of the same psychoactive substance in Uke, Karu local government area of Nassarawa State.
A 70-year-old grandmother and her son were arrested for hoarding hard drugs upon their arrival in the country before the Christmas celebration in Decent.
