The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 75-year-old man, Uchelue, among six suspects in Anambra State during a series of raids targeting illicit drug operations. Uchelue was caught in Umudioka, Dunukofia LGA, with 26.7kg of skunk, while others were apprehended in Nkwelle and Amichi with varying quantities of opioids and cannabis.
In Taraba State, 30-year-old Alfa Andrew was arrested with a Dane gun after NDLEA operatives, supported by security agencies, destroyed his 71.5-hectare cannabis farm in the Mayodoga forest, Sardauna LGA. The operation led to the destruction of 178,750kg of skunk.
In another major bust, NDLEA agents intercepted 104,900 tramadol capsules hidden in the driver’s compartment of a fuel tanker at the Abuja/Kaduna tollgate. The consignment was suspected to be heading to insurgents in Borno State. A suspect, Hassan, was arrested on the spot.
Other key arrests and seizures include:
- Zaria, Kaduna: Kabir, 45, was caught with 34.15kg of skunk at Gwargwaje checkpoint.
- Borno: Uchenna, 33, a major opioid supplier, was arrested in Maiduguri after receiving a shipment from Onitsha. Recovered from his apartment were 30,640 tramadol pills, 7,940 rohypnol tablets, and N7,999,200 in cash.
- Nasarawa: Abubakar, 36, arrested at Abacha Park, Mararaba Karu with 79,040 pills of tramadol and diazepam. Another suspect, Babangida, 47, was found with 30,410 pills and 38 bottles of codeine syrup in Lafia.
- Adamawa: Mohammed, 23, was nabbed after 15,000 tramadol capsules hidden in animal feed sacks were intercepted in Gombe. In Yola, Hamisu was arrested after 58kg of skunk, concealed in pepper sacks, was found in a car from Gombe.
- Kano: Along Kano-Hadeja road, Ashiru, 20, and Aminu, 22, were arrested with 1.5kg of skunk and 25,000 exol-5 pills. Separately, Ali, 37, and Muhammad, 42, were caught with 8,080 bottles of new psychoactive substances and 25.7kg of skunk. Another suspect, Alhasaan, 25, was caught with 250,000 exol-5 pills in Zango, Ungogo LGA.
- Edo: On Ewu-Auchi road, NDLEA intercepted a commercial bus from Onitsha with 64,250 tramadol pills; suspect Mohammed, 36, was arrested.
- Ondo: At Queen Elizabeth Camp, Aponmun, 117.5kg of processed cannabis and seeds were recovered from suspects Elves, 45, and David, 35.
- Lagos: In Mushin, 164kg of skunk was found at the residence of a suspect named Michael.
- Ekiti: In what is believed to be the state’s largest seizure of Loud and Colorado (high-grade cannabis strains), NDLEA operatives raided a location in Ado-Ekiti and seized 5.3kg of the substances and 2.5g of methamphetamine from drug kingpin Ajayi Idowu (a.k.a. Atiku), 42.
