Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested 24 suspected drug traffickers and dealers, including a 42-year-old man, taking thousands of opioid pills to insurgents' enclave in the Banki area of Borno State, a pregnant lady, a mother of three children and three other women in major interdiction operations across the country.

Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this on Sunday in a statement in Abuja, said the operation led to the seizure of over 7,609kg of assorted illicit drugs in eight states.

The statement reads in part: "The bulk of the seizures was made in Nasarawa State where NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence on Sunday, 4th February, intercepted a truck marked Lagos JJJ 64 YC conveying 367 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,037kg from Akure, Ondo State, to be delivered at Shabu area of Lafia, the state capital.

"Three suspects: Shuaibu Yahaya Liman (35), Monday Audu (33) and Linus Samuel (42), have been arrested in connection with the seizure.

"The following day, Monday, 5th February, operatives in Abuja, FCT, arrested the duo of Jibrin Shuaibu, (23) and Prosper Innih (17) with 169 bags and 80 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 1,961.5kg concealed in a truck with registration number Ogun WDE 557 XC."

In Borno State, the 42-year-old suspected supplier of illicit drugs to insurgents in Banki, a border region between Nigeria and Cameroon, Ahmad Mohammed, was arrested on Friday, 9th February.

The pregnant woman, Amarachi Akaolisa (25), and another lady, Ifeoma Iheanyi (21), were among six suspects arrested for dealing in illicit substances in Oraifite and Umuni-Evili, Aguleri, Anambra State.