National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Frank Chijioke Ibemesi, a Lagos-based businessman long sought by the agency over suspected large-scale drug operations.
Gatekeepers News reports that according to a statement on Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Ibemesi popularly known as Chisco Bee, was arrested at his Daisy Garden Hotel on Ago Palace Way, Isolo, after weeks of covert surveillance.
The 42-year-old, identified as the managing director of Franc CJ Ibemesi Nig. Ltd, was later led to a warehouse linked to him, where operatives recovered 42 jumbo bags and four cartons of Loud, a potent cannabis strain, weighing 1,762.8kg.
Recovered cash included $11,600, £2,000, €2,200, and 50 Canadian dollars.
In Osun State, NDLEA officers on Tuesday disrupted a major drug syndicate operating within the Orita-Apeje and Araromi-Okeodo forest belt in Ife South LGA. The syndicate had been preparing to move 11,135kg of processed skunk across various states. Two trucks were seized and seven suspects arrested.
In Edo State, operatives also recovered 1,902.1kg of skunk from different locations. These included 184.1kg from a bush path along Oza/Igbanke Road and another 672kg from Utese Forest in Ovia North East LGA.
Additional seizures were made along the Benin-Akure axis, where two suspects; Felix Edah and Lucky Abagha were arrested with a combined 1,046kg of the substance.
Ogun State recorded four arrests after officers intercepted 68kg of skunk and 3.150kg of methamphetamine along the Ijebu-Ode expressway.
In Taraba, Danjuma Tukura was apprehended with 172kg of skunk in Sunkani, Ardo Kola LGA, while Wisdom Titus, 24, was caught with 84kg of the same substance in Takum.
Adamawa operatives recovered 396,000 tramadol capsules from a suspect, Ahmed Isyaku Nda, at Aliyu Mustapha International Airport, Yola, while 785kg of skunk was cleared from a hideout in Asob Maraba Karu, Nasarawa.
In Kwara, NDLEA officers intercepted a truck on the Ilorin–Jebba expressway carrying 197 blocks of skunk (78.565kg) and 155 cartons of rubber solution. The driver, Umar Yakubu, was arrested.
Another arrest followed in Eiyenkonrin, Ilorin, where a commercial bus driver identified as Ibrahim Bello was caught transporting 20 blocks of skunk concealed inside a 50-litre jerrycan.
