Loaves of bread became an unlikely hiding place for controlled medicine after operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recovered 1,700 tablets of diazepam concealed inside them in Kano State. The discovery was made during a stop-and-search operation along the Zaria-Kano-Hadejia Road, where the tablets were recovered from a 28-year-old suspect, Habibu Sabitu, according to the NDLEA.
The unusual concealment was part of a wider nationwide operation in which the agency said it recovered more than 2.3 tonnes of assorted illicit drugs across Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Kaduna, Plateau, Bayelsa and Kano states.
In Kano, the operation also uncovered a much larger consignment of pregabalin. NDLEA operatives reportedly arrested a 20-year-old suspect, Saidu Adamu, in Sabon Gari with 785,000 capsules of pregabalin weighing 669.425kg.
The seizures also extended to other pharmaceutical substances. In Delta State, operatives recovered pentazocine injections, codeine syrup, tramadol, diazepam and flunitrazepam, also known as Hypnox, alongside MDMA, popularly called Molly. Some of the substances were reportedly concealed inside music speakers.
Beyond the pharmaceutical substances, the agency intercepted consignments of synthetic cannabis, popularly known as Colorado or Colos, linked to the United Kingdom. Two consignments weighing 32.20kg and 12.25kg were intercepted in Lagos, while other consignments were reportedly concealed in music speakers.
The latest seizures highlight the increasingly unusual methods being used to conceal and move controlled substances, from ordinary food items such as bread to everyday household objects such as speakers.
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