National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives uncovered a clandestine laboratory where Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, is being produced in a residential building located at Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos.
NDLEA said its operatives recovered large quantities of freshly cooked Colos and various precursor chemicals used in drug production.
This was announced yesterday in a statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in Abuja. Babfemi disclosed that a 30-year-old laboratory owner, Stephen Imoh, was arrested.
He said the discovery followed months of intelligence gathering on possible Colos laboratories in Lagos after NDLEA officers intercepted consignments of freshly produced Colos in March and May. The development suggested that the dangerous psychoactive substance, which was previously imported into the country, was now being locally produced.
The effort paid off on Thursday, October 30, when NDLEA officers raided the residential apartment in Ajao Estate which Imoh had converted into a laboratory for producing Colos, a strain of cannabis made with the psychoactive plant and various chemicals. Items recovered from the apartment include freshly cooked Colos weighing 16.2 kilograms; ADB-CHMNACA Cannabinol – 1.7kg; Potassium Carbonate – 4.5kg and Dibromobutane – 91 litres.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, November 1, raided the enclave of a 28-year-old drug dealer, Afeez Salisu (alias Malu) in Mushin, where 16 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, as well as designer sachets and bottles of Colorado weighing 16.4kg were recovered.
A music artist, Godspower Osahenrumwen, whose stage name is Steady Boy, was on Thursday, October 30 arrested by operatives while attempting to take delivery of a large consignment of Loud, a strain of cannabis, concealed inside three cartons of bathtubs imported along with other items such as clothes and gadgets from New York, United States of America.
The seizure followed the arrival of the shipment at the import shed of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, from the US aboard a DHL flight on Tuesday, October 28. The 20-year-old music artist was apprehended at Bougain Villa, Primewater Gardens 2, Freedom Way, Lekki, Lagos, when he appeared as the consignee to take delivery of 140 bags of Loud with a gross weight of 77.20kg on behalf of a syndicate, which includes his manager, Zion Osazee Omigie (alias Zee Money), who is currently at large.
In Kaduna State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Abuja-Jos highway on Sunday, October 26, intercepted a consignment of 84,710 capsules of Tramadol coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, and heading to Bauchi.
A follow-up operation in Bauchi led to the arrest of the recipient, Musa Abdulkarim, 27.
Two days later, on Tuesday, October 28, operatives at the tollgate along Abuja-Kaduna Highway arrested Hamza Musa, 47, conveying 32,946 bottles of Akuskura, a New Psychoactive Substance, NPS, from Lagos, while Saidu Nafiu, 30, was nabbed with 131.5kg of skunk at Kamfanin Zangon Aya, Igabi of Kaduna State.
Three suspects – Seun Olaniyi, 24; Rauf Asogba, 28; and Ayinla Adeniyi, 50 – were on Saturday, November 1, arrested in Abeokuta, Ogun State, after a team of NDLEA officers tracked their movement from Benin Republic and intercepted their bus along Abiola Way, Abeokuta, recovering a total of 1,779kg of skunk from them.
Jamilu Mustapha (alias Last Card), 46, was arrested with 596.4kg of skunk at Nasaru Town, Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State, on Wednesday, October 29, while no fewer than 532,600 pills of Tramadol and Exol-5 were recovered from Halilu Amiru, Rabiu Maikudi and Ibrahim Mati in a truck marked KTG-791 ZZ at Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, Kwara State, on the same day.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Okhokho-Isi community in Uhunmwode Local Government Area on Wednesday, October 29 intercepted two Toyota Sienna buses marked EPE 545 EV and ABC 142 CD, conveying a total of 1,455kg of skunk following credible intelligence.
Similarly, operatives in Ondo State on Tuesday, October 28, recovered 2,829kg of skunk linked to a 32-year-old female suspect, Mrs Ige Olarewaju, from two locations at Ayede, Ogbese, while another suspect, Samuel Adebayo, was nabbed with 737kg of the same psychoactive substance at Adegbola Junction, Akure.
No less than 76.5 litres of skuchies, a mixture of black currant, skunk,
and opioids, were seized from a suspect, Ige Oluwale, 50, arrested by NDLEA officers at Ibereko, Badagry, Lagos, on Friday, October 31. A total of 30,370 pills of Tramadol and 177 grams of methamphetamine were recovered from Musbahu Abdullahi, 28, and Saleiman Ahmed, 25, following their arrest at Wukari, Taraba State, by operatives on Thursday, October 30, while they were conveying the drugs from Onitsha, Anambra State to Yola, Adamawa State.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA Lagos, Kaduna, Edo, Kwara, Ogun, Taraba, Ondo, Seme, and Bauchi commands, as well as their counterparts across the country, for their resilience, professionalism and balanced approach to drug control, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd), vowed that the agency will continue to target and dismantle every identified drug syndicate in any part of Nigeria, while denying them the benefits of their criminal trade by ensuring the forfeiture of all traceable assets to the federal government.
