JamzNG Latest News, Gist, Entertainment in Nigeria
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted the terror drug “Captain”, a consignment of amphetamine substance in Kwara State.
This is contained in a statement by the agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, released in Abuja on Sunday.
Babafemi said the interception came barely five years after the NDLEA recorded the first seizure of the deadly terror drug Captain in Africa, at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.
He said captagon, a small, highly addictive pill widely available across the Middle East, produced a euphoric intensity in users, allowing them to stay awake for days.
According to him, it also makes users fearless and predisposes them to reckless actions that endanger the lives of people around them.
Babafemi added that its production and sales were controlled by militias and large criminal groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
This, he said, was a means to generate funds for weapons and fighters and to use them as a stimulant to keep them fighting.
Babafemi also said that the latest seizure of captagon, which retails for up to $25 a pill, was made on Tuesday, April 21.
According to him, operatives of the patrol agency along Bode Saadu road in Kwara, intercepted a trailer carrying passengers.
“A search conducted on one of the passengers, a 33-year-old man, led to the discovery of 10 packs of captagon, consisting of 10,000 pills and nine packs of Tapentadol 250 mg.
“In another interdiction operation at Bode Saadu patrol point, NDLEA officers on Friday 24 April intercepted a trailer marked RMY-70XA.
“A search of the truck led to the recovery of 155,900 tramadol capsules, 6,000 vials of injectable tramadol, 3,000 Co-Codamol tablets and 9,000 Bromazepam tablets, hidden in a false compartment built under the trailer.
“A 24-year-old suspect has been taken into custody in connection with the kidnapping,” he said.
Similarly, Babafemi said officers in Oyo, on Tuesday, April 21, also intercepted a commercial bus with registration number MNA 963 ZY, at Akinyele, on the Ibadan/Oyo expressway, on the Sokoto route.
It said a 33-year-old passenger was taken out of the vehicle and subjected to a body scan, which confirmed the ingestion of illicit drugs.
The NDLEA spokesperson explained that the suspect, who claimed to be a businessman in Sokoto, was subsequently placed under close observation for excretions.
This, he said, led him to excrete a total of 45 pellets of cocaine, weighing a total of 1,043 kilograms in three excretions.
“The decision to travel by road to Sokoto with the illicit drug in his stomach was to evade detection by the NDLEA at the airport.
“Further investigations revealed that upon arrival in Sokoto, the suspect was required to expel the pellets, rest for a few days and then ingest the substances again to continue his journey.
“This occurs via trans-Saharan routes, with Algeria as a transit point and possible final destination in Europe,” he said.
Babafemi said in another development, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Benin/Lagos expressway on Saturday, April 25 in Edo, intercepted a truck marked NLC 146 FC, carrying 1,196,000 pharmaceutical opioid pills, among others.
He said two suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizure of consignments bound for Onitsha, Anambra.
Speaking further, he said a suspect was also arrested on Mile 2 Expressway in Lagos on Saturday, April 25, while carrying 810 kilograms of Arizona, a strain of cannabis.
“Another suspect was nabbed by NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, April 22, at Misau Road, Azare, Katagun Local Government Area (LGA) in Bauchi, with 288 blocks of skunk weighing 154.5kg.
“Similarly, in Ekiti, a total of 466.8 kilograms of skunk was recovered from the house of a suspect at Ilaro Street, Isinbode-Ekiti, from where he planned to transport them to Yola, Adamawa,” he said.
Babafemi also said that 20,000 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance was destroyed on eight hectares of agricultural land in Uyanga community, Akamkpa LGA in Cross River, on Saturday, April 25.
According to him, the destruction occurred when NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, raided the community and recovered 170kg of processed cannabis.
“Also in another incident, 394 pieces of IED components were seized from a suspect by operatives of the patrol agency along Kontagora/Zuru road, Niger State, on Wednesday, April 22.
“He was transporting the IED materials in a red Toyota car with registration number KNT 617 AE, in Shadadi, Mariga LGA.
“The suspect and the exhibit must be transferred to the relevant security agency for further investigation,” he said.
