Twelve people have been arrested by the officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) with 1,381.5 kilogrammes of substance suspected to be Indian Hemp in Niger State.
The agency’s Acting Commander in the state, Mr. Isaac Aloye, disclosed this while speaking with our correspondent in Minna.
He said the suspects were arrested with over 25 sacks of dried weeds suspected to be cannabis sativa and other items such as 0.014 kg of cocaine, 401 bottles of cough syrup with codeine, 10,200 pentazocine injections and 0.001kg of methamphetamine.
Aloye explained that the drugs were sent through waybill to the owners in different parts of the state and beyond before it was intercepted by the operatives on stop and search duty.
“They send all these drugs through transporters who will call the owners to come and pick it at their various parks. But luck ran against the owners when it was intercepted by the command.
“Some of these drugs seized was during the lockdown period, they used the articulated vehicles allowed by the Covid19 Task Force to convey food items to other states to send it to the owners.
“Intelligence reports have it that the drugs were brought into the state during the lockdown through Kano, Kaduna and Zaria and they were packaged like wedding gifts or gift items,” he said.
He also said that four out of 12 arrested have been sent to the custodial centre, two were remanded while the remaining six were still under investigation.
Aloye, therefore appealed to members of the public to assist with the required information in arresting those in the illegal trade.
