Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested 33-year-old Mohammed Sani, commonly called Gamboli, a notorious supplier of illicit drugs to bandits, after three weeks on the run from his home in Anguwan Makera, Kuta, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
He was arrested at his hideout following credible intelligence about his illicit drug activities.
NDLEA operatives had on 20 November 2025 raided his house at Anguwan Makera, Kuta, where they recovered 471.8 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis.
Though he escaped arrest during the raid and had been in hiding, the manhunt for him eventually paid off on Thursday 11 December when NDLEA officers, acting on processed intelligence, traced and arrested him at one of his drug joints in Anguwan Fadama, Kuta.
In a statement yesterday, the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said intelligence reports had indicated that Gamboli is a major supplier of illicit drugs to bandits operating in Shiroro Local Government Area.
Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Abia on Thursday 11 December raided a clandestine codeine syrup-manufacturing factory at Amapu Igbengwo village, Umuakpara, in Osisioma Local Government Area of the state. During the operation, operatives recovered a total of 9,015 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 1,152.2kg.
In Enugu State, operatives on Thursday 11 December arrested Ossai Emeka, 45, along the Onitsha–Enugu Ezike road with 7.2kg of skunk, while Enoje Agada, 40, was nabbed along the Enugu Ezike–Ette road with 94.6kg of the same psychoactive substance.
A raid carried out by NDLEA operatives at a notorious drug joint known as “Beere the California” at Ido in Oyo State on Thursday 11 December led to the seizure of 3.4kg of skunk, 1.6kg of Colorado (a synthetic cannabis) and 400 grams of methamphetamine.
The owner of the drug joint, identified as “Idowu the killer”, is currently at large, while a suspect, Ajibade Faruk, was arrested at the joint. Another operation at Idi Oro, Elekuro, Ibadan, on Friday 12 December led to the arrest of Olusanya Abosede, 35, and the seizure of 238.4kg of skunk.
While the duo of Bashiru Babalola, 43, and Ugunwale Ranti, 50, were arrested on Wednesday 10 December at Gbaji checkpoint, Seme Road, Badagry, Lagos, with 50,000 pills of tramadol 250mg, NDLEA operatives in Ogun State arrested two suspects, Akinwale Makanjuola and Joseph Owolabi, with 73kg of skunk at Iperu, just as another suspect, Wasiu Lateef, was nabbed with 25kg of the same substance at Oke Agbede, Imeko area of the state on Tuesday 9 December.
In Ondo State, NDLEA officers, acting on credible intelligence on Monday 10 December, raided a compound in Ogbese, Akure North Local Government Area, where they arrested a 55-year-old woman, Veronica Obi, and her 29-year-old son, Bright Obi, and recovered 1,187 kilograms of skunk and its seeds from them.
A suspect, Ohiomah Igbafe, 44, was arrested during a raid operation at Uroe community, Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State, where 461kg of skunk and its seeds were recovered on Tuesday 9 December.
In Gombe State, a suspect, Muhammed Sani (alias Sha-Mu-Sha), 50, was arrested with 40,000 capsules of tramadol at Tunfure area, Gombe, while two other suspects, Muhammad Abdullahi (a.k.a. Sakalala), 52, and Muhammed Hamza (a.k.a. Mamman), 32, were nabbed at Ashaka Jalingo with 56kg of skunk on Monday 8 December.
No fewer than 907 pills of tramadol, tapentadol, cocodamol, amitriptyline and bromazepam concealed in containers of local black soap and designer wears, in six different consignments going to the US, Canada and Sweden, were intercepted and seized by NDLEA operatives at two major courier companies in Lagos between Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 December 2025.
At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, NDLEA officers on Saturday 13 December intercepted a consignment of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 23,579kg during a joint examination of a container with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
In like manner, commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities in the past week.
These include: WADA enlightenment lectures to students and staff of Community Senior Secondary School, Sheme, Katsina; Government College, Tudun Wada Dankade, Kano; and Methodist High School, Makurdi, Benue, while the Enugu State command of the Agency paid a WADA advocacy visit to HRM Igwe Ikechukwu Samuel Asadu, Chairman, Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Niger, Abia, Oyo, Enugu, Seme, Ogun, Ondo, Gombe, Apapa and Edo commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Marwa (rtd), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
