The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Sunday that its operatives intercepted a consignment sent from Lagos to Abuja in the early hours of Friday, February 18, 2022, in the Abaji area of the Federal Capital Territory.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, said the operatives also foiled an attempt by a syndicate to steal at least N2.7 billion from the Nigerian economy by circulating fake $4.7 million cash.
According to the report, controlled delivery of the parcelled counterfeit US dollars totaling $4,760, 000.00 resulted in the arrest of a main suspect, 42-year-old Abdulmumini Maikasuwa.
According to him, the seizure was prompted by intelligence received by the Agency’s FCT Command, which detailed the movement of the cash and the vehicle transporting it.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, has directed that both the cash and the suspect in custody be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for further investigation.
The statement also stated that in Kwara State, operatives arrested a nursing mother, Mrs. Rashidat Adebayo, 38, in Offa with various drugs, including Tramadol, Swinol, Diazepam, and Pentazocine injection ampules, barely three weeks after she was granted administrative bail following her arrest for dealing in illicit drugs.
It stated that prior to her latest arrest on Thursday, February 17th, the nursing mother was arrested and granted bail on January 24, 2022 for dealing in similar drugs.
The NDLEA officers also arrested two drug dealers, Sani Isa (aka Bilaz) and Bala Yerima, in Hong, Adamawa State, with 239 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 209kg, while operatives of the Bauchi State Command intercepted a truck marked FFF 422 XB traveling from Lagos to Maiduguri, at Azare, Bauchi, and recovered 164.8kg of cannabis sativa concealed in peak milk cartons.
The NDLEA Chief Executive praised the officers and men of the FCT Command for their vigilance in detecting and preventing counterfeit goods worth $4.7 million from entering the capital city.
He urged them, as well as their counterparts in Adamawa, Kwara, Bauchi, and other parts of the country, not to take their feet off the gas.
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