Pregnant Woman, Two Others Arrested With N3.2m Fake Notes

A commercial bus transporting N3.2m counterfeit cash owned by three suspects including eight-month pregnant Favour Peter (24), Esther Adukwu (27), and Ochigbo Michael (39), has been intercepted by Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

The suspect according to a statement signed by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, was arrested at Jabi park in Abuja.

The statement read, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted a commercial bus conveying N3.2m counterfeit cash owned by three suspects: eight-month pregnant Favour Peter, 24; Esther Adukwu, 27, and Ochigbo Michael, 39, who were arrested at Jabi park in Abuja in a follow up operation on Tuesday, April 9 following the seizure of the fake naira notes in Lokoja, Kogi State.

“This is even as NDLEA officers in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Navy Ship Lugard Base, Lokoja intercepted 37-year-old Aliyu Lawal along Lokoja-Abuja Road on Monday, April 8 and recovered 620 blocks of cannabis weighing 310kg from him, while 10 sacks of the same psychoactive substance weighing 98kg were seized along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway by the NDLEA operatives from Jama Obodo, 44, in a commercial bus coming from Ilesha, Osun State en route Taraba State on Wednesday, April 10.

“In Cross River State, a 40-year-old widow and mother of two, Mrs. Theodora Ita, was on Monday, April 8 arrested at Bassey Edom, Calabar, by the NDLEA operatives for producing and selling a lethal new psychoactive substance, NPS, locally called ‘Combine’, which is a mixture of different strains of cannabis and opioids soaked in raw gin.

“As at the time of her arrest, 18 litres of the dangerous substance in used paint drums were recovered from her. In her statement, she claimed she started the illicit drug production and distribution in October 2023. Another suspect, Godwin Okon Samuel, 48, was apprehended at Essit Ebum area of Calabar with 39.4kg of cannabis sativa on Tuesday, April 9.”