By IBIRONKE ARIYO

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a wanted drug kingpin, Damilare Ajiboye aka ?Na God? after 12 months of evading arrest.

The arrest followed a raid on his warehouse in Akala, Mushin area of Lagos.

The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja that the suspect was arrested on Wednesday.

Babafemi said that 1,101kg of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis was recovered at the warehouse on Sept. 4, 2023.

He, however, said the arrest of Ajiboye in a bank in Ogun, followed well-coordinated efforts by the agency?s Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigation, which traced 20 bank accounts linked to the suspect and blocked them.

In a related development, Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday took into custody a wanted community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry, Alhaji Bashir Talba.

This, he said, followed the arrest of his two wives and son, as well as the seizure of a total of 226.2kg cannabis at their homes in Badagry on Sept. 18.

In another operation in Lagos, the NDLEA said more than 9.7kg cannabis sativa and 50 litres of monkey tail, a fermented combo of cannabis and dry gin, were recovered from a suspect Florence Moses at Badore area of Ajah, Lekki on Tuesday Sept. 24.

Meanwhile, In Kogi, three suspects: Owolabi Dele, 42; Ayodele Monday, 40; and Olawale Ojo, 22, were arrested by NDLEA operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway.

Babafemi said they were arrested while conveying 132 sacks of cannabis weighing 2,062.00kg in a Mercedes container truck from Osun to Dei Dei in Abuja.

Also, another suspect, Benedict Simire, 57, was arrested at Ayetoro road, Kabba, conveying 33.40kg of same psychoactive substance and a pump action gun with six cartridges on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

?On the same Wednesday, operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA intercepted a two 40HP Yamaha engines boat bearing 71 bags of Ghana Loud weighing 2,982kgs along Alfa beach, Lekki area of Lagos.

?Men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Western Marine Command were on hand to support the NDLEA officers to recover the boat and exhibits after the two suspects in the boat dived into the water,? he said.

Again, on Wednesday Sept. 25, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers state intercepted 1,500 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup.

Babafemi said the cartons were containing a total of 150,000 bottles of the syrup and was seized during a joint examination of a targeted 40ft container, with men of Nigerian Customs and other security agencies. (NAN)

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