The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two elderly men, aged 84 and 75, for allegedly selling illicit drugs to teenage secondary school students in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
The agency disclosed that the suspects, identified as Godfrey Orji, 84, and Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, 75, were apprehended in separate operations following intelligence reports linking them to the illegal drug trade.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Obiora was arrested on June 19 at his patent medicine store located on Club Road, Umuahia. A search of the premises reportedly led to the recovery of 4.64 kilograms of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
Orji, a pensioner, was reportedly caught by security personnel at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia, while supplying illicit drugs to two students. The school authorities handed him over to the police, who subsequently transferred the case to the NDLEA.
One of the students, a 15-year-old Senior Secondary School II pupil, allegedly confessed that Orji had been supplying him with drugs for personal use and resale to fellow students.
While the two suspects are expected to face prosecution, the affected students have been placed on counselling and rehabilitation programmes.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives intercepted a 9.5-kilogram consignment of ADB Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid classified as a dangerous psychoactive substance, at a courier company in Lagos. The shipment had arrived from China concealed in a carton.
The agency also seized 300 grams of “Loud,” a potent strain of cannabis, hidden inside ladies’ handbags at another logistics company in Lagos.
In another operation, NDLEA officers raided the residence of a wanted drug dealer, Lukman Badmus, popularly known as Lukman Ogombo, in the Ogombo area of Ajah, Lagos, where they recovered bottles of codeine syrup and skunk.
A follow-up operation at his wife’s shop on Lagos Island led to the discovery of additional narcotics and 42 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 22.5 kilograms concealed in a minibus parked outside the premises. His wife, Aisha Saraki, was arrested after allegedly attempting to dispose of some drug exhibits during the raid.
Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives intercepted Tochukwu Onah, 33, along the Okene-Lokoja Highway in Kogi State with 1.03 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed inside custard containers.
In Ekiti State, a wanted couple, James Tony Chukwudi, 48, and James Kehinde, 35, linked to the seizure of 117 kilograms of skunk earlier in the year, were arrested after months on the run.
The agency also recorded significant seizures in Oyo and Edo states. In Oyo, operatives arrested Tudun Olubiyi, 75, alongside two others after recovering 1,416 kilograms of skunk concealed in 118 jumbo bags at a house in Oyo town.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers destroyed over 4,100 kilograms of cannabis during raids on forest camps and arrested suspects connected to the illicit cultivation and trafficking of the substance.
The agency said it continued its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools and communities across several states.
Commending officers involved in the operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, urged personnel across the country to sustain efforts aimed at reducing drug supply and combating substance abuse through public enlightenment.
