NDLEA Arrests Two Elderly Men, 84 and 75, Over Alleged Drug Sales to Secondary School Students

NDLEA Nabs Two Septuagenarians, Octogenarian for Allegedly Supplying Drugs to Students

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two elderly men in Abia State for allegedly supplying illicit drugs to secondary school students, as the agency intensified its nationwide crackdown on drug trafficking.

The suspects, identified as 84-year-old Godfrey Orji and 75-year-old Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, were apprehended in separate intelligence-led operations in Umuahia.

In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said Obiora was arrested on June 19 following credible intelligence that he was selling illicit drugs to students and other residents from his patent medicine store on Club Road, Umuahia.

According to the agency, a search of the premises led to the recovery of 4.64 kilogrammes of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.

Babafemi disclosed that Orji, a pensioner, was arrested a day earlier after security personnel at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia, allegedly caught him supplying illicit drugs to two teenage students.

"The guards handed them over to the police, who subsequently transferred the case to the NDLEA on Thursday, June 18," Babafemi said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that one of the students, a 15-year-old Senior Secondary School II pupil, confessed that Orji had been supplying him with drugs for personal use and resale to other students.

The agency said while the elderly suspects would be prosecuted, the two teenagers had been enrolled in counselling and rehabilitation programmes.

In a separate operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted a 9.5-kilogramme consignment of ADB-Chminaca, a highly potent synthetic cannabinoid classified as a dangerous new psychoactive substance. The shipment, which originated from China, was concealed inside a carton at a courier company.

The agency also recovered 300 grammes of "Loud," a potent strain of cannabis, hidden inside ladies' handbags at another logistics company in Lagos on June 16.

Also in Lagos, NDLEA officers raided the residence of a wanted drug suspect, Lukman Badmus, popularly known as Lukman Ogombo, in the Ogombo area of Ajah on June 19. Although the suspect escaped arrest, operatives recovered nine bottles of codeine syrup and 30 grammes of skunk from the premises.

A follow-up operation at a shop belonging to his wife on Lagos Island led to the seizure of two additional bottles of codeine, drug paraphernalia and 42 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 22.5 kilogrammes concealed in a minibus parked outside the shop.

In Kogi State, operatives arrested 33-year-old Tochukwu Onah along the Okene-Lokoja Highway while transporting 1.03 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed inside custard containers from Lagos to Abuja.

The agency also announced the arrest of a couple, James Tony Chukwudi, 48, and James Kehinde, 35, in Ekiti State. The suspects had been on the run since March after the seizure of 117 kilogrammes of skunk allegedly linked to them.

In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives arrested 75-year-old Tudun Olubiyi alongside Nasiru Buhari, 22, and Buba Musa, 47, during a raid in the Dangote area of Elekara, Oyo town.

The operation resulted in the recovery of 118 jumbo bags containing 1,416 kilogrammes of skunk concealed beneath sawdust.

The agency also recorded additional arrests and drug seizures in Edo State as part of its nationwide enforcement operations.

Beyond enforcement, the NDLEA said its commands across the country sustained anti-drug sensitisation campaigns under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative in schools, communities, workplaces and places of worship.

Chairman of the agency, Brigadier General (Rtd.) Buba Marwa, commended officers involved in the operations, saying the agency would continue to combine aggressive drug supply reduction with preventive education and public awareness campaigns.

Marwa urged NDLEA personnel nationwide to remain steadfast in the fight against illicit drug trafficking and abuse.