By Kazeem Ugbodaga
In a sweeping crackdown that stunned air passengers and rattled drug traffickers across the country, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) made sensational arrests in a series of high-profile operations this past week.
Two brothers, John Abugu (43) and Kenneth Abugu (31), were dramatically arrested at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) as they attempted to board a flight to India with 5 kilograms of cocaine ingeniously concealed within the walls of their suitcases.
NDLEA‘s Special Operations Unit, acting on credible intelligence, apprehended the duo on Thursday, April 3, despite their claims of travelling for medical treatment, Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesman said on Sunday in a statement.
In the statement, on the same day, eagle-eyed officers of the MMIA Strategic Command intercepted a 20-year-old Ghanaian-British tech student, Parker Darren Hazekia Osei, with 36 parcels of Loud—a potent cannabis strain—weighing 19.4kg.
The East London University student had just landed on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Bangkok when he was cornered at the E-arrival hall.
He confessed to picking up the stash in Thailand to deliver in Nigeria, even though he resides with his parents in the UK.
Meanwhile, in Kogi State, 33-year-old Ngozi Ogili was busted while transporting 3kg of methamphetamine in a commercial bus from Lagos to Abuja.
A sting operation at her destination in the Apo mechanic area of Abuja led to further seizures of Loud and Colorado, two notorious synthetic cannabis strains.
The shockwaves spread to Abia State, where a 75-year-old grandfather, Nna Nnanna Felix, was arrested on Saturday, April 5, during a raid in Ukwa West with 1.6kg of skunk, another cannabis variant. In another sting, 21-year-old David Chinemerem was caught in Aba with a massive stockpile of 2,050 ampoules of pentazocine, a restricted prescription drug.
The offensive rolled into Yobe, where 381 bottles of codeine syrup and 108 tramadol tablets were seized from Abdullahi Adamu along the Potiskum-Damaturu road. In Anambra, raids at Osogbo motor park and a residential building in Oba led to the arrest of Obinna Sunday and the seizure of 195,000 tramadol pills. Also caught was Ugochukwu Ojalanonye, found with 4.2kg of codeine syrup and 5.4kg of pentazocine.
In the Federal Capital Territory, NDLEA operatives stormed Wuse market, arresting 51-year-old Sunday Ayogu with 25kg of skunk and 90.4g of methamphetamine. Meanwhile, in Cross River, two women—Faith Effiong Etim (64) and Victoria Asuquo Etim (40)—were arrested as NDLEA, with military backup, destroyed over 250,000kg of cannabis spread across 100 hectares of farmland in the Esuk-Odot community, Odukpani LGA.
NDLEA’s relentless War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign also continued full throttle, with sensitisation outreaches to schools, worship centres, and communities across the country, including Ogidi in Anambra, Dan’iyau village in Katsina, and Sangere in Adamawa.
Commending the efforts of his officers, NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), hailed their balanced approach to both supply and demand reduction, adding that these victories demonstrate the agency’s unyielding resolve in flushing out drugs from every corner of the country.
