NDLEA seizes N3.4bn drugs, arrests fake police officer, others
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted more than 1.3 million pills of tramadol and other opioids, as well as 6,000 kilograms of cannabis, valued at over ₦3.4 billion in a series of operations across eight states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The agency also arrested a 49-year-old man, Innocent Ekpe, who allegedly impersonated a senior police officer to evade security checks while transporting illicit drugs across state lines. Ekpe was arrested alongside 39-year-old Nduka Joseph on September 16 along the Benin-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba, Delta state, with 292.48 kilograms of skunk concealed in a Toyota Sienna bus.
According to the NDLEA, investigation showed that Ekpe had allegedly used the name Godwin Emeka and posed as a deputy superintendent of police, using a forged identification card to avoid scrutiny at checkpoints. The agency said the operation led to the recovery of the cannabis concealed in the vehicle.
In another operation in Edo, NDLEA operatives arrested 45-year-old Matthew Ossai at an auto-repair workshop on Agbor Road, Benin City. The agency said the workshop was allegedly being used as a storage point for illicit drugs, where officers recovered 48 kilograms of Canadian Loud, 152 grams of methamphetamine and a metal box used to keep the substances.
Meanwhile, operatives at the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos intercepted a 40-foot container shipped from Montreal, Canada, after intelligence-led monitoring. A joint examination on Sept. 16 uncovered 1,200 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 603.75 kilograms and valued at ₦1.81 billion, concealed in 31 black jumbo bags inside two Toyota Sienna vehicles.
In Niger, three young men — Bashir Usman, 20; Abubakar Nuhu, 18; and Abdulrahman Abdulwahab, 18 — were arrested along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway with two locally made AK-47 rifles, a locally fabricated pistol, magazines and nine rounds of 9mm ammunition. Separately, two suspects arrested along the Abaji-Abuja Highway were found with more than 1.1 million assorted tramadol tablets and capsules, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and Exol tablets, according to the agency.
The NDLEA also reported several drug seizures in Lagos, Gombe, Imo and Ondo, including 48,900 tramadol pills recovered from a suspect in Surulere, 59 kilograms of cannabis intercepted at a logistics company, 998.38 kilograms of nitrous oxide seized in Apongbo, and 154,480 tramadol capsules recovered from two suspects in Gombe. In Ondo, four suspects were arrested during the raid and destruction of a two-hectare cannabis farm in Ita-Ogbolu forest, where the agency said about 5,000 kilograms of skunk was destroyed.
Beyond the arrests and seizures, NDLEA commands across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities. Reacting, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain what he described as a balanced approach to drug-control efforts.
