National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two suspected drug traffickers, Victor Nwosa and Felix Chika Obiegbu, after consignments of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine were seized from their residences in Lagos.
Gatekeepers News reports that according to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, the arrests were the result of weeks of surveillance by the agency’s special operations unit.
The spokesman said operatives stormed the suspects’ homes while they were preparing the drugs for shipment to Europe.
Nwosa, 64, who posed as a textile dealer, was apprehended on September 17 at his Okota residence with 4.33kg of heroin and 448g of cocaine.
Obiegbu, 49, identified as a wine distributor, was arrested on September 11 in Surulere, where 2.9kg of methamphetamine was recovered.
Babafemi said, “At the time they were preparing their consignments for export, NDLEA-SOU operatives who had for months put them under surveillance, swooped on them in different parts of Lagos.”
“Obiegbu was arrested on Thursday, 11th September at his 5 Shada Shonefun street, Aguda Surulere home, where in the course of a search, 2.902 kilograms of methamphetamine were uncovered and seized.”
In the north-east, Babafemi disclosed that operatives intercepted drug couriers suspected of supplying illicit substances to terrorists and bandits in Borno and Yobe.
One of them, 26-year-old Baba Kaka Ibrahim, was caught on September 27 in Njimtilo village, Borno, while driving a Mercedes-Benz GLK. A search uncovered 39,380 tramadol and exol-5 tablets concealed in the car’s engine compartment.
The statement added, “Same day in Yobe state, NDLEA operatives intercepted a lady, Halima Adamu, along Damaturu-Maiduguri road, where 39 parcels of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 1.4kg, were found concealed inside the casing of her travelling bag.”
“A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of another lady linked to the consignment, Habiba Muhammad, at her Baga road, Maiduguri home.”
Babafemi also revealed that several operations across other states. In Kano, operatives arrested two suspects with 30,030 tramadol pills. In Bayelsa, three men were detained at Swali jetty in Yenagoa with 12kg of cannabis and 50 cartridges.
In Ekiti, a 45-year-old ex-convict, Femi Owoeye (alias “Do Good”), was caught in Ikere-Ekiti with 32kg of cannabis and tramadol. He had previously served a three-year jail term for a similar crime.
In Kaduna, NDLEA officers intercepted a vehicle at the Abuja-Kaduna tollgate containing 404 blocks of cannabis weighing 262.6kg. Another suspect was later arrested with 506g of methamphetamine, leading to a follow-up arrest in Gombe of the intended recipient.
In Lagos, three men were found with over 85,000 opioid pills, while in Abuja, a suspect was stopped on the Abaji-Gwagwalada expressway with 2.1kg of Colorado.
In Edo state, operatives destroyed more than 24,000kg of cannabis farms in Uromi and Ogu forests, and also seized a truck carrying 1,025kg of cannabis hidden in charcoal bags in Etsako West.
Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman praised the officers for their efforts. He said, “The success of the various operations across the country underscores our commitment to safeguarding Nigeria from illicit substances that threaten public health and national security.”
“Every gram of these dangerous drugs we seize and remove from our streets and communities reinforces our determination to protect our youths, disrupt criminal networks, and strengthen national security.”
