NDLEA Uncovers Cross-Border Drug Syndicates, Arrests Six Kingpins”

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled two major cross-border drug trafficking syndicates and arrested six drug kingpins from Adamawa, Anambra, and Lagos states, as well as Cameroon.

According to a statement released by the NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the agency had been monitoring the group’s activities for several months. The syndicates were suspected of supplying drugs to terrorist groups operating in Nigeria and Cameroon.

The leaders of the syndicates, who were arrested in different parts of the country, include Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Anayo, Ezeh Martin, and Adejumo Ishola.

Babafemi explained that the syndicates sourced psychoactive substances, including tramadol, from a notorious drug dealer in Onitsha, Nelson Udechukwu Anayo. The drugs were then concealed in vehicles and transported from Onitsha to Yola and other parts of the North and Cameroon.

On October 7, 2024, Bawuro and Najib were trailed from Onitsha, where they had gone to purchase another consignment, and were arrested in Taraba the following day. A total of 276,500 pills of tramadol were recovered from a Toyota Avensis saloon car.

Follow-up operations were subsequently carried out in Delta and Anambra states, where Ezeh Amaechi Martin and Udechukwu Nelson Anayo were arrested.

Another leader of a different syndicate, Ishola, was arrested on Tuesday, November 5, at the Seme border in Lagos, on his way from Ghana with 3.3 kilograms of cocaine and 600 grams of synthetic cannabis.

The NDLEA also intercepted 31,750,000 pills of 240mg Voltron, a controlled opioid, at the Apapa seaport in Lagos. The pills were concealed in a container imported from India.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), import shed, Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA officers intercepted a 700-gram consignment of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis. A software engineer, Olu Marshal, who showed up to collect the pa

TheNDLEA also thwarted an attempt by another suspect, Orji Nnaorji, to send 32.50kg of codeine syrup and 5.70kg of cannabis to London, UK, concealed in tiger nuts cargo through the export shed of the Lagos airport.