The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an 80-year-old ex-convict who returned to drug trafficking barely three years after serving a prison sentence for a similar offence, alongside several other suspects in coordinated operations across the country.
The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said the octogenarian was first arrested on December 14, 2022, prosecuted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for dealing in illicit drugs.
He said NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, on Saturday, January 10, tracked the suspect to his residence at Mmanta–Abak village in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, where 5.7 kilogrammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, were recovered.
In another operation in the state, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Oron–Ibaka Road in Oron LGA on Friday, January 9, intercepted a 37-year-old businessman travelling with full-body mannequins en route to Cameroon.
A search revealed that the mannequins were stuffed with tramadol pills weighing 5.3 kilogrammes.
The suspect reportedly told investigators that he resides in Cameroon and was returning after the Christmas and New Year holidays. He was said to have purchased the drugs in Onitsha, Anambra State, for onward trafficking to Cameroon.
Meanwhile, in Oyo State, NDLEA raids across Ibadan led to the arrest of suspected drug traffickers and the seizure of assorted illicit substances.
Babafemi said a 45-year-old suspect was arrested at Sasa area of Ibadan with 10.696 kilogrammes of Colorado, Scottish Loud, Ghana Loud, Canadian Loud and skunk. Two vehicles — a Toyota Venza and a Toyota Yaris — were also recovered.
At Adegbayi area of Ibadan, another suspect was arrested on Friday, January 9, with quantities of Colorado, Ghana Loud and skunk.
Similarly, NDLEA officers arrested a suspect at Ring Road, Ibadan, with 1.264 kilogrammes of Colorado, Scottish Loud and skunk, and recovered N1.3 million cash exhibit during the operation on Saturday, January 10.
In Edo State, a dispatch rider and two other suspects were arrested at Ihama/Airport Road, GRA, Benin City, in connection with the seizure of 118 grammes of Canadian Loud and a wrap of Colorado.
Babafemi added that a suspect was arrested at Irrua with 17.552 kilogrammes of Colorado, Loud and skunk, while another was apprehended at Ubiaja with 930 grammes of skunk on Wednesday, January 7.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives recovered 4,000 pills of tramadol (225mg) from a suspect at Dakwa town in Tafa Local Government Area.
Also, 100 blocks of skunk weighing 47 kilogrammes were seized from a suspect at Lankaviri in Yorro Local Government Area of Taraba State.
In Adamawa State, the agency recovered 30,950 capsules of tramadol from the residence of a suspect in the Bachure area of Yola South LGA, following his arrest at the Lamido Aliyu Mustapha International Airport, Yola.
Babafemi said NDLEA commands across the country also sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the week.
