Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an 80-year-old man, Aremu Shojobi, for possessing 14 kilograms of cannabis.
Shojobi, apprehended at his residence in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State on September 20th, reportedly confessed to selling illicit drugs for over 25 years.
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the octogenarian admitted sourcing the drugs from Benin Republic and distributing them to customers daily.
“In his statement, the octogenarian claimed he had been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years,” Babafemi noted, adding that Shojobi conducted his trade between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
In a related operation, NDLEA officers seized 25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol, and 350,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.
These seizures were made between September 17th and 20th. The estimated street value of the tapentadol is N13.7 billion, while the codeine-based syrup is valued at N2.45 billion, bringing the total haul to nearly N15 billion.
Babafemi explained, “The 25 million pills of tapentadol were found in 500 cartons, while 350,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered from three containers flagged by the agency following intelligence reports.”
Further operations in Lagos led to the arrest of the Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, and the seizure of 226 kilograms of cannabis from his two wives and son. Talba remains at large, but the NDLEA recovered 93 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 57.6 kilograms from his first wife and son, and 168.6 kilograms from his second wife.
The NDLEA also reported significant seizures and arrests across other states. In Kano, a drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony, was apprehended on September 15th at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach. The drugs weighed 1.267 kilograms and were recovered after the suspect excreted them over three days.
Other large seizures include 700,000 pills of exol-5 intercepted along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway and 390 kilograms of Arizona cannabis recovered from a delivery van in the Ojo area of Lagos. Additionally, in Niger State, operatives arrested Udemefuna Chibuike with 49,000 tramadol tablets and other illicit drugs on September 20th.
In Rivers State, 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213 kilograms were seized by NDLEA officers in Port Harcourt, while in Plateau State, a wanted suspect, Jonathan Ali Abuttur, was arrested with 808 kilograms of cannabis concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertiliser.
Babafemi concluded by stating, “The NDLEA will continue its nationwide crackdown on illicit drug trafficking and abuse, as these recent arrests and seizures demonstrate our commitment to protecting public health and safety.”