By Daily Review Online
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two elderly men, aged 84 and 75, for allegedly supplying and selling illicit drugs to secondary school students in Abia State.
The suspects, identified as 84-year-old Godfrey Orji and 75-year-old Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, were arrested in separate operations in Umuahia.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Obiora was apprehended on June 19 following intelligence reports that he was selling illicit substances to students and other users from his patent medicine store located on Club Road in Umuahia.
Babafemi said operatives recovered 4.64 kilograms of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam, during a search of the premises.
He added that Orji, a pensioner, was arrested after he was caught supplying illicit drugs to two students of Saint Silas Secondary School in Old Umuahia.
School security personnel intercepted him and handed him, along with the students, over to the police before the case was transferred to NDLEA on June 18.
During interrogation, one of the students, a 15-year-old Senior Secondary School Two student, allegedly confessed that Orji regularly supplied him with drugs, which he consumed and resold to other students.
NDLEA said both elderly suspects would be prosecuted, while the affected students had been enrolled in counselling and rehabilitation programmes.
The agency also announced several drug-related arrests and seizures across the country.
In Lagos, operatives intercepted a 9.5kg consignment of ADB-Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid, concealed in a carton shipped from China through a courier company.
Another operation on June 16 led to the seizure of 300 grams of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, hidden inside ladies’ handbags at a logistics company.
NDLEA officers also raided the residence of a wanted drug dealer, Lukman Badmus, popularly known as “Lukman Ogombo,” in the Ogombo area of Ajah, Lagos, where nine bottles of codeine syrup and 30 grams of skunk were recovered.
A follow-up operation at a shop belonging to his wife, Aisha Saraki, on Lagos Island led to the recovery of two additional bottles of codeine, drug paraphernalia and 42 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 22.5kg concealed inside a parked minibus.
Babafemi said an attempt by Saraki to flush some of the drugs down a toilet during the raid was thwarted by operatives.
In Kogi State, officers arrested 33-year-old Tochukwu Onah along the Okene-Lokoja Highway with 1.03kg of methamphetamine hidden inside custard containers while travelling from Lagos to Abuja.
The agency also confirmed the arrest of two suspects, James Tony Chukwudi, 48, and James Kehinde, 35, who had been declared wanted in connection with the seizure of 117kg of skunk in Ekiti State in March.
In Oyo State, operatives arrested three suspects, including 75-year-old Tudun Olubiyi, during a raid on a residence in Elekara, Oyo Town, where 1,416kg of skunk concealed in 118 jumbo bags covered with sawdust was recovered.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives destroyed 1,744kg of cannabis on farms in Khagba Forest, Owan East Local Government Area, and recovered 169kg of processed cannabis.
Another operation at Ebora Camp in Esan South Local Government Area led to the destruction of 2,424kg of cannabis, while a suspect, Augustine Anyamone, 45, was arrested with 395kg of skunk.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended officers in Abia, Lagos, Kogi, Oyo, Ekiti and Edo states for the arrests and seizures.
He said the agency’s efforts to reduce drug supply were being complemented by its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaign and urged operatives nationwide to sustain the momentum in combating drug trafficking and abuse.