At least four tonnes of illicit drugs have been seized by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency within one week in seven states.

According to NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the illicit substances that include nitrous oxide – popularly called laughing gas, skunk, codeine, syrup, methamphetamine, and travail were seized during interdiction operations carried out in Lagos, Kogi, the Federal Capital Territory, Jigawa, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Edo States.

Babafemi explained that during one operation, 1,194 cylinders of laughing gas, weighing a total of 2,547.2 kilograms, were intercepted in Toyota Sienna buses along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on September 22. Two suspects, Onyebuchi Ikpozu and Kenneth Igwe, were apprehended while transporting the consignment to Abuja.

The NDLEA spokesperson further detailed that one of the Toyota Sienna buses (KTU 582 HV) was carrying 99 cartons with 594 cylinders weighing 1,267.200 kilograms, while the other bus (FKJ 329 YA) was loaded with 100 cartons containing 600 cylinders weighing 1,280 kilograms.

In addition, a 48-year-old woman named Mrs. Ugo Eluba was arrested in Abuja as a result of a follow-up operation after 2,400 ampules of pentazocine injection and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 were intercepted in Kogi and traced back to her.

Babafemi went on to describe other seizures, including 977 kilograms of skunk in the FCT, methamphetamine, cannabis, tramadol, and pentazocine injection in various locations across Nigeria. Several individuals were arrested in connection with these operations.

The NDLEA’s recent large-scale operation in Ekiti State involved the destruction of 40 tons of cannabis plants covering 16 hectares of farmland in a thick forest in Ijesha Isu-Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area.