TheCable

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have raided a factory producing Akuskura, a psychoactive substance, in the Mubi area of Adamawa state.

Akuskura is a psychoactive drug which is made of herbs laced with tobacco and cannabis.

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the factory distributed the illicit substance in large quantities to Chad, Cameroon and the Niger Republic.

Babafemi said production was ongoing when the officers of the agency carried out the raid on Saturday.

The NDLEA said its operatives also seized 126 parcels of the loud strain of cannabis at the Tincan port in Lagos. The consignment, weighing 66kg, was said to have been concealed in a used Toyota Corolla car imported from Toronto, Canada.

“On Friday April 28, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port intercepted 63kg Canadian Loud packed in bags in the boot of one of the five used vehicles in a container marked, TLLU4840762 coming from Toronto via Montreal, during a joint examination with other stakeholders at the port,” Babafemi said.

The agency added that one Mordi Chukwuemeka Samuel, a freight agent, was arrested while attempting to export the same strand of cannabis to Kenya.

The cargo, weighing 900 grams, was “hidden inside walls of a travelling bag containing food item” and was seized at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on Saturday.

“When Mordi presented the bag, which he claimed contained food items for export, operatives noticed that in the course of searching the consignment, the side walls of the bag were unevenly bloated, after which they dismantled the false packings and recovered the illicit substance,” the NDLEA spokesperson said.

“Similarly, men of the agency’s Directorate of Operations and Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms also on Thursday 27th April intercepted 1.53kg skunk concealed in old hard drives meant for export to Dubai, United Arab Emirate.

“In Benue, operatives recovered 859 bottles of codeine based syrup weighing 117.3kg abandoned by a suspected dealer about two kilometres away from NDLEA checkpoint along Enugu-Otukpo road on Wednesday 26th April, while two suspects: Kabiru Muhammed, 35, and Isah Muhammed, 28, were arrested with 20 blocks of cannabis weighing 11.2kg concealed in a bag of cassava flakes (garri) along Zaria-Kano road, Kano on Friday 28th April.

“No fewer than seven bags of cannabis with a gross weight of 74.5kg were recovered when operatives raided an uncompleted building located in a bush in Ala town, Akure area of Ondo state just as 60kg of the same substance concealed among footwears in two jumbo sacks were recovered from one Aminu Mohammed along Ibadan Oyo road, Oyo state while waiting to board a vehicle to Kebbi state.”

Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, commended the operatives across the country and encouraged them to maintain their vigilance and professionalism in reducing drug supply