Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a shipment of cocaine concealed in twenty sets of religious books bound for Saudi Arabia.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday that the cocaine consignment consisted of twenty parcels with a total weight of 500 grams buried in the pages of the religious books.

He said the seizure occurred on Tuesday, April 15, when NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) searched through export cargo bound for Saudi Arabia at the logistics firm.

On the same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a separate shipment at another courier company: five parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 2.8 kilogrammes and hidden in a carton coming from the United States of America.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives arrested 22-year-old Muhammad Mohammed, a supplier of illicit substances to bandits, in Kano while on patrol along the Bichi–Kano Road.

Mr Babafemi said the suspect was heading to Katsina and had 277 ampoules of pentazocine injection tied to his thigh and private part with cello tape.

“He was intercepted on Sunday, April 13; meanwhile, another suspect, Mohammed Abdulaziz, 43, was arrested on the same day at Research Rimin Kebe area of Nasarawa, Kano, with 68 blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 30kg,’’ he said.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives raided two cannabis farms in Egbeta forest, Edo State, destroying 3,717.8625kg of the psychoactive plant on 1.487145 hectares and recovering 136.5kg of processed cannabis.

Separately, at the Tincan seaport in Lagos, NDLEA arrested Kayode Basorun, 40, a suspect who has been at large for two years, in connection with the seizure of 107kg of Loud imported from Canada in 2023.

Mr Babafemi added that another suspect, Dauda Yakubu, who distributed illicit drugs within the seaport community, was arrested by a team of operatives on Monday, April 14.

(NAN)