The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a notorious drug kingpin, 36-year-old Sunday Ibigide, in Asaba, Delta State, three years after he went underground to evade arrest for drug trafficking offences.
Ibigide, who had been on the agency’s wanted list since March 2022, was apprehended on Sunday, August 10, 2025, alongside one of his aides, 27-year-old Clement Osuya, while attempting to move 250 blocks of skunk weighing 138 kilograms with his distribution bus.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that Ibigide first came under the agency’s radar in 2022 after the seizure of 24.137kg of skunk and 10 grams of molly linked to him. He has since remained a fugitive until intelligence-led operations tracked him down.
In a series of coordinated operations across the country, NDLEA operatives also made massive drug busts and arrests. At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, operatives intercepted five containers holding 875,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N6.1 billion and 3.5 million pills of Trodol Benzhexol valued at N1.7 billion, bringing the total seizures to N7.8 billion.
In Enugu State, six suspects were arrested following the destruction of 37,500kg of skunk cultivated on 15 hectares of farmland in Enugu Ezike. The operation, carried out between August 14 and 15, also recovered 74.5kg of cannabis for prosecution purposes.
Other major seizures include:
Lagos: Arrest of a mother, Muyibat Mumuni, 52, and her son, Faruk, 25, for storing and distributing 149kg of “Ghana Loud” cannabis in Mushin. Another suspect, Emmanuel Samuel, was arrested in Ajah with 8.5kg of Canadian Loud.
Gombe: 128,000 capsules of tramadol seized from Sani Mohammed, 32.
Kogi: 337,800 capsules of tramadol intercepted along the Okene-Lokoja highway from a commercial bus heading to Kotangora, Niger State.
Taraba: 11,250kg of cannabis destroyed on 4.5 hectares of farmland in Tanmiya forest.
Kaduna: Two suspects arrested with 22,640 pills of tramadol and rohypnol, while two others were caught with 111.1kg of skunk.
Edo: 432kg of cannabis recovered in Etsako West and 130kg seized from a warehouse in Sobe, Owan West.
Kano: Two suspects arrested with a combined 92kg of cannabis along Zaria-Kano road.
Lagos-Badagry highway: 4,320 ampoules of ketamine injection seized from a suspect.
Babafemi also disclosed that NDLEA continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization campaigns nationwide, including advocacy visits to former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Emir of Borgu, the Emir of Lafia, and the Shehu of Borno.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers in Delta, Rivers, Gombe, Kogi, Lagos, Edo, Kano, Taraba, and Seme Commands for their “courage and commitment.” He urged them to sustain the balanced approach of tough enforcement and advocacy to reduce drug abuse and trafficking in the country.
