The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the interception of significant quantities of Ghanaian Loud, a psychoactive substance, smuggled into Lagos.
The illegal consignments were transported in two trucks and a J5 bus, collectively weighing 14,524.8 kilograms.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, revealed in a statement on Sunday that the three vehicles, laden with large bags of the psychoactive substance, were tracked and intercepted at the Ojuelegba area of Lagos during the early hours of Sunday, January 28.
“In the process of blocking the vehicles, two of the drivers jumped off on motion while the third driver, 66-year-old Nasiru Ojomu, who works with wanted Akala, Mushin-based drug baron, Suleiman Jimoh (alias Olowo Idi Ogede, also known as Temo) was arrested.
“In the last three years, NDLEA operatives have seized several shipments of the same psychoactive substance worth billions of naira linked to Temo. The wanted drug lord has since gone into hiding while the Agency continues a manhunt for him,” he stated.
Further arrests were made across different states, including the apprehension of a deaf and dumb male suspect involved in illicit substances in the Samaru area of Zaria, Kaduna state.
In Kogi state, 833.32 kilograms of cannabis sativa were destroyed on a two-acre farmland in Iluke community, Kabba-Bunu LGA, with the owner, Samuel Atonila, 49, arrested.
Additionally, in Nasarawa, three suspects—Muhammed Musa, Bilyaminu Musa, and Sadiya Ya’u—were arrested with 24.4kg of the same psychoactive substance at Uke, Karu local government area. In Ondo state, NDLEA operatives recovered 258 kilograms of the substance from a bush store around Ikare bypass.
This recent interception follows the December 2023 arrest of a 70-year-old grandmother and her son after NDLEA intercepted millions of tramadol 225mg pills, thousands of codeine syrup bottles, and bags of Canadian Loud arriving in the country ahead of the Yuletide celebration.
