By IBIRONKE ARIYO

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raided an 80-room new hotel used as cover for distributing illicit substances in Victoria Island, Lagos, and recovered 598 bags of Canadian Loud.

In a statement by the NDLEA?s spokesman, Femi Babafemi on Sunday in Abuja, the drugs recovered was with a total weight of 417.3 kilogrammes worth N1.04 billion in street value.

Babafemi said that three suspects ? Eze Ayitu, Ofuokwu Samuel and Emmanuel Ameh were arrested in the course of the operation at the five-storey hotel building between Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26.

He said that two other suspects, Noble Philip and his partner Kenneth were currently at large.

?Items suspected to be proceeds of illicit drug trade recovered from the premises include Toyota Prado Land cruiser Jeep (Lagos AKD 472 OZ); Toyota Sienna Vehicle (Lagos KJA 79 HJ).

?Others are Volkswagen Delivery Van (Lagos AAA 525 JE); Kia Ceranto Car (Lagos BDG 860 GQ); Grand Caravan Dodge (Lagos APP 847 YF); 74 new TV sets; 10 used TV sets; and 13 refrigerators, among others, ?he said.

In another major interdiction in Jigawa with a follow up operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence on Wednesday seized consignments of opioids.

Babafemi said that they were being moved from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe through Jigawa.

He said that the psychoactive substances were being moved in a Toyota Sienna vehicle marked ABJ 182 NW when anti-narcotic officers on patrol intercepted the vehicle with two suspects, Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar.

?Recovered from the Sienna vehicle were 200,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin.

?A swift follow up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the supplier, 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad, at his residence located at Mil Tara, Layin Technical area of Kano.

?Also, an additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol 250mg stacked inside a Nissan 18-seater bus marked DAL 372 XA and a room in his house were discovered and evacuated.

?This brings the total number of the recovered opioids to 2,001,500 pills,? he added.

Babafemi said the NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa has commended the officers and men of Lagos, Kano and Jigawa commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures.

Marwa equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts. (NAN)

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