A 28-year-old woman Bilkisu Suleman who supplies ammunition to bandits has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA
The director of media and advocacy, NDLEA headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said Suleman came top on the list of 12 other suspects arrested by NDLEA operatives in New Year’s interdiction operations in Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun states.
Babafemi said Bilkisu was arrested on Wednesday 3rd January by NDLEA officers on patrol along the Zaria – Kano expressway in possession of 249 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a black nylon bag kept in her lady’s handbag.
The statement read: “She was on her way to deliver the ammunition to an identified bandit in Kakumi village, Katsina state when she was nabbed after which she was transferred to the Kaduna state command of the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation.
“The military authorities at the Bonny camp cantonment in Lagos on Tuesday 2nd January transferred a suspect, Francis Suru, 37, and 63 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 2,104.2 kilograms and a truck to the Lagos state command of NDLEA.
“The suspect and the drug exhibits were earlier intercepted by NDLEA officers on 12th December 2023 close to the gate of the military cantonment in Bonny Camp, Victoria Island. Some armed escorts however resorted to sporadic shooting to obstruct the operation, a development which attracted soldiers from the cantonment, who eventually intervened and took custody of the consignment and suspect before transferring them to the Agency.”
Babafemi also said at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos on New Year day, Monday 1st January 2024 intercepted a consignment of Colorado, a very strong strain of cannabis, concealed in boxing kits imported from the United States of America.
He said a week-long intelligence-led operation to get the receiver arrested was consummated on Saturday 6th January following the successful tracking and arrest of 38-year-old Olorunfunmi Saheed Olakunle who distributes the dangerous psychoactive substance to dealers across Lagos state.
According to the statement, the consignment had arrived in the country on Monday 1st January via Cairo on an Egypt Airlines flight marked as boxing kits.
Babafemi said according to Saheed, he delivers such consignments to different recipients whenever his childhood friend, US-based Sagir Salami sends them.
He said the latest shipment had a total weight of 1.80 kilograms.
Babafemi said in the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Niger state on Thursday January 5, 2024 during a stop and search operation along Suleja-Kaduna road intercepted a J5 bus coming from Ondo state to Zaria, Kaduna state with twenty-three (23) bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg.