NDLEA seizes N7.8bn opioids, arrests 36-year-old ‘drug kingpin’ in Rivers, Delta

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have arrested Sunday Ibigide, a 36-year-old suspected drug kingpin, in Asaba, Delta state.

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said Ibigide was arrested on August 10 while attempting to move 250 blocks of skunk weighing 138 kg in a distribution bus.

Babafemi said Ibigide’s arrest follows a three-year manhunt, alongside one of his aides, 27-year-old Clement Osuya.

He said the suspect first came under NDLEA’s radar in March 2022, when 24.1 kg of skunk and 10 grams of molly were recovered from him, but went underground after the incident.

In a separate operation, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives destroyed 48,750 kg of skunk in forests across Enugu and Taraba and intercepted large consignments of opioids in Rivers, Kogi, Kaduna, Gombe, Lagos and other states.

He said operatives, supported by military personnel and vigilantes, raided cannabis farms spanning 15 hectares in Enugu Ezike, Enugu state, on August 14 and 15, and arrested six suspects and destroyed 37,500 kg of cannabis, while 74.5 kg was recovered as evidence for prosecution.

In Rivers state, he said NDLEA operatives working with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) intercepted five containers at the Onne port.

The seizure includes 875,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup valued at N6.1 billion and 3.5 million pills of benzhexol worth N1.7 billion.

NATIONWIDE DRUG BUST

The NDLEA spokesperson said operatives arrested a 52-year-old woman, Muyibat Mumuni, and her 25-year-old son, Faruk, on August 13 at Ladega Street, Mushin area of Lagos, for storing and distributing 298 blocks of cannabis weighing 149 kg.

He said another suspect, Emmanuel Samuel, was apprehended in the Ajah area of Lagos with 8.5 kg of Canadian Loud.

In Gombe, Babafemi said 128,000 capsules of tramadol were seized from Sani Mohammed, 32, on August 11, while 337,800 capsules of the same drug were intercepted in Kogi from a commercial bus driver heading to Niger state.

He added that operatives destroyed 11,250 kg of cannabis on 4.5 hectares of farmland in Tanmiya forest, Sardauna LGA of Taraba, with the support of the Sardauna Emirate Council and the Nigeria Forest Hunters Security Service.

Other seizures include 22,640 pills of tramadol and rohypnol, alongside 111.1 kg of skunk in Kaduna; 432 kg of skunk recovered along the Warake-Auchi road; and 130 kg seized in a warehouse in Sobe, Edo state.

He said 92 kg of skunk was intercepted along the Zaria-Kano corridor, while 4,320 ampoules of ketamine were seized at the Gbaji checkpoint on the Lagos-Badagry highway.

Babafemi noted that Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, commended officers for their efforts and urged them to sustain the “balanced approach” to drug control.