A wanted drug lord 40-year-old Yussuf Azeez has been arrested by operatives of a special operations unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos while on his way to Saudi Arabia.

Azeez was arrested on his way for Umrah, a holy pilgrimage, after months of intelligence and surveillance on him and his criminal drug activities.

A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi said the alleged drug kingpin had been arrested and charged for drug offences in the United Kingdom but jumped bail and escaped to Nigeria. Soon after settling down in Lagos, he set up a massive clandestine laboratory in the Lekki area of the state for the production of Colorado, a deadly synthetic cannabis and other illicit substances.

Babafemi said at about 6:30am last Thursday, Yussuf walked into the waiting hands of NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport while attempting to board his flight to Saudi Arabia for Umrah. He was subsequently swiftly driven to his 17 Vincent Eku street, Ogombo, Lekki, clandestine laboratory which has been under surveillance for a while.

He was said to be found in company of another suspect, 43-year-old Abideen Kekere-Ekun, at the time of his arrest.

Babafemi said inside the massive building, operatives from the agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring were able to dismantle all installed laboratory equipment, precursor chemicals and already produced illicit substances including Colorado, all weighing 148.3 kilogrammes.

The spokesman added that at the Sifax bonded terminal in Okota, Lagos, NDLEA operatives in conjunction with men of Customs Service and other security agencies last Friday discovered 105.5 kilogrammes Molly, a designers drug and 500 grammes of methamphetamine during a joint examination of a shipment.

In Niger state, NDLEA operatives last Thursday intercepted Ibrahim Mohammed, 35, in a Volvo truck marked GRZ 872 XA along Kainji-Wawa road while conveying 87,000 pills of tramadol and 72 kilogrammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis.

Babafemi said not less than 34,520 capsules of tramadol were found concealed in different compartments of a Toyota Corolla car marked GAN 102 AR intercepted along Zaki-Biam – Wukari road last Monday while the driver Aliyu Samaila, 25, was arrested.

He said the opioids were loaded from Onitsha, Anambra State, and heading to Cameroon. In another operation in Taraba, NDLEA officers last Thursday arrested a suspect Felix Tanko Chinedu, 28, with 15,020 capsules of tramadol at Kasuwabera ATC in Ardo Kola local government area.

In Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene/Lokoja highway last Wednesday intercepted a consignment of 7.600 kilogrammes Loud, a strong strain of cannabis. A follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of the owner, Chukwunonso Anieze, 40, while no fewer than 175,000 pills of opioids were recovered from another consignment at the location same day.

Three suspects: Olayide Oyidiran, 39; Abdulsalam Abdulsalam, 28; and Opeyemi Tijjani, 39, were last Wednesday nabbed at Abuja/Kaduna tollgate with 769 kilogrammes skunk being conveyed in a truck marked TRE 897 BE, coming from Lagos en route Owo, Ondo state and heading to Kano.

He said a 73-year-old grandfather James Ugbedo was laat Friday arrested in a cannabis plantation at Igbeshi forest, Imiakebo, Etsako East local government area, Edo state where 1,459.75 kilogrammes skunk was destroyed and 5.6 kilogrammes of same substance evacuated, while 70-year-old grandma Mrs. Comfort Odudu was nabbed at Onopa, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state with 5 kilogrammes skunk last Tuesday.

Babafemi said with the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) while commending the officers and men of SOP, DFCM, Tincan, Edo, Taraba, Kaduna, Kogi, Niger and Bayelsa commands for the various successful operations, enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the agency.

He said: “The dismantling of yet another clandestine laboratory for the production of Colorado and other dangerous synthetic substances and the arrest of the kingpin behind it In Lekki, coming barely a week after similar actions were taken against another cartel in Ajao estate Lagos shows that these are no doubt the first in the series of what will be many strikes against merchants of death who prey on the weak in our communities. Let it be known to those still hiding in the dark that the NDLEA supported by our local and international law enforcement partners will continue to hunt them and bring them to justice.” (AriseNews TV)