Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered a secret laboratory used for the production of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, inside a residential apartment in Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos State.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, said the operation followed months of surveillance on suspected production sites across the state.
According to him, the raid, carried out on Thursday, 30 October, led to the arrest of the 30-year-old owner of the illicit lab and the recovery of large quantities of freshly produced drugs and precursor chemicals.
Items recovered from the premises included 16.2kg of freshly cooked Colorado, 1.7kg of ADB-CHMNACA cannabinoid, 4.5kg of potassium carbonate, and 91 litres of dibromobutane.
Babafemi said the discovery confirmed intelligence that the synthetic drug, once imported into Nigeria, was now being locally manufactured.
In a related operation in Mushin, Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, 1 November, arrested a 28-year-old drug dealer and recovered 16 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud, designer sachets, and bottles of Colorado weighing 16.4kg.
Meanwhile, a 20-year-old music artist, popularly known as Steady Boy, was arrested after attempting to take delivery of 77.2kg of cannabis, concealed in three cartons of bathtubs imported from the United States.
Babafemi said the consignment, which arrived aboard a DHL flight at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, on 28 October, was intercepted before the suspect appeared at Primewater Gardens 2, Lekki, to collect it.
“The artist was acting on behalf of a syndicate that includes his manager, Zion Osazee Omigie (a.k.a. Zee Money), who is currently at large,” he said.
The NDLEA added that investigations are ongoing to dismantle the syndicate and prevent the spread of locally produced synthetic drugs across the country.
