•Declares Abuja drug lord, Ibrahim Bendel wanted
A total of 5,527.15 kilogrammes of methamphetamine and cannabis sativa, as well as 132,090 tablets of tramadol and 2,000 bottles of codeine were recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) across five states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in the past week, with the arrest of a 60-year-old grandmother, a pregnant woman and others.
The drug recovery and suspects’ arrests were achieved during interdiction operations, the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi disclosed in a statement on Sunday, December 4, 2022.
The grandmother, Mrs. Ibinosun Sandra Esther was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo state in a follow/up operation following the seizure of 5.5kg Loud variant of cannabis imported into the country from South Africa.
The consignment, which she claimed was sent to her by her daughter, was concealed in two giant speakers as part of a consolidated cargo that arrived the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos on board an Airpeace Airline flight.
NDLEA operatives also intercepted 1.4 kilogrammes of methamphetamine on Saturday, November 26.
The drug was concealed inside custard tins packed among cosmetics and foodstuff going to Brazil via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.
A cargo agent, Salako Omolara Fausat, who brought the bag containing the illicit drug to the airport, and an intending passenger to Brazil, Anyanwu Christian, who was to travel with the consignment, were promptly arrested.
Another attempt by a freight agent, Adebisi Aina Hafsat, to export 3,000 tablets of Tramadol concealed in motor spare parts to Banjul, Gambia through the NAHCO export shed, was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and arrested her on Monday, November 28, while a follow up operation to Ebute-Meta area of Lagos the following day led to the arrest of the actual owner, Afam Chibuke Stanley, who is a spare parts seller.
A seizure was also made of 100,000 tablets of Royal brand of Tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 68.90 kilogrammes imported from Karachi, Pakistan on Ethiopian Airlines at the SAHCO import shed.
In Abuja, operatives stormed the warehouse of a notorious drug lord and an ex-convict, Ibrahim Momoh, alias ‘Ibrahim Bendel’ who escaped from prison custody to return to his criminal trade.
Eighty-one jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 1,278kgs were reportedly recovered from the warehouse.
Though the fleeing drug dealer is still at large and is wanted by the Agency, his warehouse keeper, 55-year-old Ghanaian, Richard Forson Gordon, was arrested.
Thenewsbearer learnt that Ibrahim Momoh was first arrested on November 27,, 2014 with the same substance weighing 385.1kgs.
He was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on April 22, 2020, but escaped from jail after three months.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 2,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were seized in a commercial bus by operatives on Friday, December 2, along Lokoja-Abuja expressway.
On Saturday, December 3, NDLEA operatives arrested a 29-year-old pregnant woman, Kate Ibinabo, with 34.4kg cannabis sativa in Okrika area of Rivers State.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), however directed that she be granted administrative bail pending when she’s delivered of her baby and thereafter return for her prosecution because at the time of her arrest, her pregnancy was in an advanced stage.
In Ondo State, 241 bags of the psychoactive substance, with a gross weight of 3,133kg, were recovered from a building at Ilale Cashew, Ehinogbe, Owo, on Tuesday November 29.
At least, 507.9kgs of cannabis were also seized during a raid at the hideout of a fleeing drug dealer in Mushin area of Lagos on Thursday, December 1.
In Cross River State, 53 jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 567.05kg were seized from three suspects, namely: Bassey Boniface Eyibio, 38; Effiong Akiba Etim, 30; and Ngbong Raymond, 45, at Mpara junction, Odukpani Local Government Area on Thursday, December 1, while conveying the consignment in a bus marked CKK 74 AA.
Operatives equally arrested another suspect, Ali Mohammed along Potiskum- Damaturu road after they found 29,090 tablets of Tramadol in his personal Honda car marked ABC 914 RW coming from Gombe to Damaturu, Yobe State.
Gen. Marwa commended the officers and men of the MMIA and the concerned commands for the arrests and seizures.
He charged them and their counterparts across other formations to continue to step up their offensive against drug cartels.
