You want to know where the terror war rages the fiercest? Just follow the trail of hard drugs. That is the not-so-hidden story behind the seizure of some two million tablets of hard drugs, which the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) just seized. According to Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA spokesperson, the drugs were headed for seven northern states: Borno, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Gombe and Nasarawa.

Babafemi told the media that 2, 325, 553 tablets and capsules of Tramadol, Pregabalin, Hypnox,

Diazepam and Exol-5 were seized by NDLEA operatives at different operations. Also seized were 353 bottles of ‘Akuskura’, a new psychoactive substance so-called, set to be distributed in those seven northern states. The seizures were made in Kaduna, Kogi, Sokoto and the Federal Capital Territory.

On August 12, one Umar Sanusi was nabbed during a follow-up raid in Kano. He was taken back to Kaduna, which appeared his main operational base; and the 50 cartons of Pregabalin 300 mg, containing 750, 000 capsules, which weighed 375 kilograms were weighed in his presence. The drugs, which ownership was traced to him, had earlier been seized on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.

Other dangerous drugs were seized on the Okene-Abuja expressway on August 19: 696, 000 tablets of Tramadol and Exol-5, all loaded in a truck from Onitsha, Anambra State, headed for Maiduguri, in Borno State. Also, 300, 000 tablets of Diazepam were seized from one Faruku Bello, in Sokoto State, on August 17. Yet, another seizure of hard drugs, bound for Nasarawa State from Onitsha, Anambra State, was made.

Perhaps to show how active such illicit trade had become on Nigerian highways, the driver of the truck, one Osita Nwobodo, allegedly tried to compromise the NDLEA operatives. But he was promptly arrested and thrown into custody.

The NDLEA must be commended for this feat. Indeed, since Brig-General Buba Marwa became the agency’s boss, there has been an upsurge in the operatives’ war against trafficking in illicit drugs. Again, that the raids have been sustained is praise-worthy because not a few had thought it would peter out. It hasn’t and it mustn’t. So, the NDLEA must do all within its power to further empower and encourage its operatives to continue in that positive path.

Still, why might these dangerous drugs be heading towards the aforementioned seven northern states? The answer would appear obvious.

the Boko Haram plague with the murderous activism of the cells of ISWAP: Islamic State of West Africa Province, a tear-away rogue cell from the original Boko Haram.

Zamfara, Kaduna and Sokoto had latterly become the epicentres of terrorism in Nigeria’s North West, with cells finding the North East corridor too hot to handle, scrambling into some refuge in those three states and becoming new plagues for the luckless locals.

Gombe was a catchment area of North East terror. Nasarawa and Kogi would appear breeding grounds for opportunistic terror cells. With the recent jail break in nearby Abuja, Nasarawa appears to teem with many cells, sprung by the jail break. That much has been volunteered by the state’s governor, in his periodic alerts to the Federal Government on this unfortunate development.

Kano, so far safe from recent terror activities, should pick the interests of the security agencies. That a huge cache of hard drugs was headed for Kano could well re-confirm the age-old primacy of Kano as a vibrant centre of northern commerce. But it could also provide early intelligence that some terrorist cells could be finding new homes in the state. If true, the earlier they were found out, routed and uprooted from the area, the better for everyone.

But again here, the centrality of NDLEA, to the terror war, cannot be over-stressed. If hard drugs have proved a ruthless trigger and enabler for terrorist acts — Islamist raids and capture, kidnapping, cattle rustling and even wanton murder of luckless farmers by criminal herders — then the NDLEA mop-up of these drugs must be crucial to prevailing over terror.

That is why the NDLEA must not only continue on its present path, it must also go after the barons, using the hands already in custody as leads. That way, it can rid the environment of these evil kingpins and sundry collaborators.

The more successful these arrests are, the likelier the drug networks would be smashed. With the network dislodged — in any case, highly degraded — and free supply of hard drugs cut off, terror would start ebbing, and the victims nationwide would finally breathe the air of relief.

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