The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 44.45kg of synthetic cannabis, popularly known as Colorado, in two consignments from the United Kingdom.
The NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted a consignment containing 27 parcels of Colorado weighing 32.20kg.
He said a real estate agent, Abideen Jide Salami, who allegedly came to collect the consignment using a code sent by his brother in the UK, was arrested on Sept. 9.
He added that a follow-up operation led to the arrest of Nurudeen Abiodun Kadiri, 44, who was linked to another consignment containing 12.25kg of Colorado.
“Kadiri said the consignment was sent to him by his brother in the UK,” Babafemi said.
The spokesman said operatives also intercepted Colorado concealed in music speakers at Maza-Maza and Iddo motor parks in Lagos.
He said three suspects were arrested in connection with the consignments, including a tour agent, Ifeanyi Obed Augustine, 41, and the alleged owner of one of the consignments, Obasi Ugochukwu, 46.
In Kano, Babafemi said operatives arrested 20-year-old Saidu Adamu with 785,000 capsules of pregabalin weighing 669.425kg in Sabon Gari.
He said another suspect, Habibu Sabitu, 28, was arrested with 1,700 tablets of diazepam concealed in loaves of bread along the Zaria-Kano-Hadejia Road.
In Plateau, he said 51-year-old Chinedu Uzor was arrested at Katako Market, Jos, with 157,100 capsules of tramadol.
Babafemi said operatives also destroyed 4,832.56kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis, on farms in Edo.
He said 186kg of skunk was recovered from a Toyota Avalon car in Akure, Ondo State, while a 58-year-old suspect, Paul Ogbuwala, was arrested.
In Kaduna, a female suspect, Hannah Michael, was arrested with 369.6kg of cannabis, while four suspects were arrested in Bayelsa with 876kg of cannabis.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, urged them to sustain efforts against drug trafficking.
Marwa charged them to “continue to shut every pipeline being used by drug cartels, whether at the airports, seaports, land borders, or in the hinterland where cannabis is cultivated.”
