Follow Us on Google
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two elderly men;84 and 75, for allegedly supplying illicit drugs to teenage secondary school students in Umuahia, Abia State.
Also,the Agency reported a string of major seizures and arrests across six states in its weekly operations bulletin released yesterday.
Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, 75, was arrested on Friday, June 19,after operatives received intelligence that he was selling drugs to students from his patent medicine store on Club Road, Umuahia. A search of the premises yielded 4.64 kilograms of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
In a separate case, 84-year-old Godfrey Orji, a pensioner, was apprehended by security guards at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia, after he was caught supplying drugs to two teenage students. The school handed him to police, who transferred him to NDLEA custody on Thursday, June 18.
One of the affected students, a 15-year-old in SS2, told investigators that he received drugs from Orji, which he used and also resold to classmates. Both men are to face prosecution, while the students have been placed in counselling and rehabilitation.
In Lagos operation, the NDLEA operatives intercepted a 9.5-kilogram consignment of ADB-Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid classified as a dangerous new psychoactive substance, at a Lagos courier firm.
Days earlier, on Tuesday, June 16, officers at a separate Lagos logistics company recovered 300 grams of “Loud,” a potent cannabis strain, concealed in ladies’ handbags and destined for Dubai.
In a related raid on Friday, June 19, operatives stormed the Ajah home of wanted dealer,Lukman Badmus, also known as Lukman Ogombo, recovering nine bottles of codeine syrup and 30 grams of skunk.
Other News
A follow-up raid at his wife’s shop on Lagos Island uncovered two more bottles of codeine, drug paraphernalia, and 42 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 22.5 kilograms in a parked minibus outside the shop.
The wife, Aisha Saraki, allegedly attempted to flush some exhibits down a toilet during the raid but was stopped by operatives.
Along the Okene/Lokoja highway, NDLEA operatives on Friday intercepted Tochukwu Onah, 33, travelling from Lagos to Abuja with 1.03 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in custard containers.
A couple, James Tony Chukwudi, 48, and James Kehinde, 35, wanted since March in connection with a 117-kilogram skunk seizure in Ekiti State, were arrested in Efon-Alaaye-Ekiti on Tuesday after months evading capture.
In Oyo State, a raid on a house in Oyo town’s Dangote area on Saturday, June 20, led to the arrest of 75-year-old Tudun Olubiyi alongside Nasiru Buhari, 22, and Buba Musa, 47.
Operatives recovered 118 jumbo bags containing 1,416 kilograms of skunk concealed under sawdust.
In Edo State, Patrick Imoukhede, 45, was arrested Wednesday, June 17, when officers raided Khagba forest in Owan East LG, destroying 1,744 kilograms of skunk and recovering a further 169 kilograms already processed. A separate raid at Ebora Camp in Esan South LG led to the destruction of nearly 2,425 kilograms of cannabis, with a suspect, Augustine Anyamone, 45, arrested with 395 kilograms of skunk in a related operation.
Meanwhile, the agency said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign continued nationwide, with awareness lectures held at schools in Ekiti, Kano, Nasarawa, Katsina, and Anambra states, alongside an advocacy visit by the Rivers State Command to the Paramount Ruler of Rumuogba Kingdom, HRH Barr. Temple Ejekwu.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd), commended officers across the Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Lagos, Kogi, and Edo Commands for the operations, while urging personnel nationwide to sustain momentum in both enforcement and prevention efforts.
