Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Sunday Ibigide, a 36-year-old suspected drug kingpin, in Asaba, Delta State.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said Ibigide was apprehended on August 10 while attempting to transport 250 blocks of skunk, weighing 138kg, in a distribution bus.
His arrest followed a three-year manhunt. One of his aides, 27-year-old Clement Osuya, was also taken into custody.
Babafemi explained that Ibigide first came under the agency’s radar in March 2022, when operatives recovered 24.1kg of skunk and 10 grams of molly from him. He subsequently went into hiding until his recent arrest.
In a separate series of operations, NDLEA operatives destroyed 48,750kg of cannabis in forests across Enugu and Taraba states and intercepted large consignments of opioids in Rivers, Kogi, Kaduna, Gombe, Lagos, and other parts of the country.
Working with military personnel and vigilantes, the agency raided 15 hectares of cannabis farms in Enugu Ezike, Enugu State, on August 14 and 15. Six suspects were arrested, 37,500kg of cannabis destroyed, and 74.5kg preserved as evidence for prosecution.
At Onne Port in Rivers State, NDLEA operatives, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), intercepted five containers holding 875,000 bottles of codeine syrup worth N6.1 billion and 3.5 million pills of benzhexol valued at N1.7 billion.
The agency also recorded multiple seizures across the country. In Lagos, a 52-year-old woman, Muyibat Mumuni, and her 25-year-old son, Faruk, were arrested in Mushin for storing and distributing 298 blocks of cannabis weighing 149kg. Another suspect, Emmanuel Samuel, was caught in Ajah with 8.5kg of Canadian Loud.
In Gombe, operatives seized 128,000 capsules of tramadol from 32-year-old Sani Mohammed on August 11, while in Kogi, 337,800 capsules of the same drug were recovered from a commercial bus driver en route to Niger State.
In Taraba, 11,250kg of cannabis cultivated on 4.5 hectares of farmland in Tanmiya forest, Sardauna LGA, was destroyed with the support of the Sardauna Emirate Council and the Nigeria Forest Hunters Security Service.
Other interceptions included 22,640 pills of tramadol and rohypnol, alongside 111.1kg of skunk in Kaduna; 432kg of skunk along the Warake–Auchi road; 130kg from a warehouse in Sobe, Edo State; 92kg along the Zaria–Kano corridor; and 4,320 ampoules of ketamine at the Gbaji checkpoint on the Lagos–Badagry highway.
NDLEA chairman Buba Marwa commended officers for their efforts, urging them to sustain a “balanced approach” to drug control.
