A woman suspected to be the head of a drug syndicate, Faith Nwankwo, has been arrested at her Lagos residence, Nigeria’s anti-narcotics agency says.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the suspected kingpin was arrested on Wednesday at her residence, House 6, C close, 3rd Avenue, Festac area of Lagos, “shortly after she returned from a warehouse at Plot 3432 Sola Akinsola Street, Divine Estate, Amuwo Odofin where she loaded eight cartons of tramadol 225mg into an unmarked white Honda Pilot SUV.
“A search of her residence and the warehouse led to the recovery of Two Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand (2,750,000) pills of tramaking, a brand of tramadol 225mg and 250mg packed in 39 cartons weighing 1,916 kilograms. The drugs and the SUV were recovered while the suspect was taken into custody.”
In another operation on 4 August, the agency said it tracked a group of transnational syndicates involved in the importation, exportation, distribution, and dealing of cocaine and Canadian Loud.
The group was tracked to the Atlantic Nominee Estate in Lekki- Ajah area of Lagos, where a blue Toyota Highlander SUV was loaded with 8.49kg of cocaine and 10.3kg Canadian Loud for distribution, allegedly by Urama Chinemelum Precious, 32, and Adelakun Ilelabayo Oluade, 55.
A follow-up operation to the recovery of additional 18 blocks of Loud weighing 18.5kg at the residence of Chinemelum at House 7, Road 7, Lagra estate, Eti-Osa, Lagos.
“The following day, Saturday 5th August, operatives of the Special Unit went after another syndicate involved in importation, distribution and diversion of ephedrine hydrochloride, a precursor chemical used for the production of methamphetamine, following intelligence that members of the cartel were planning to divert 25 kilograms of the substance,” the statement reads.
“Two members of the syndicate: Udeh Vincent Ogbonna, 53, and Okonkwo Ifeanyi Uzozie, 50, were arrested at a commercial bus terminal in Jibowu, Yaba, Lagos where they were attempting to send the concealed substance to the South East. A body search on the two suspects led to the recovery of Three Thousand ($3,000) US Dollars found on Udeh Vincent Ogbonna.”
At a courier firm in the state, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) on Wednesday intercepted a 4.5kg consignment of Loud coming from the United States.
In operations across four other states of Ogun, Ondo, Edo and Nasarawa, NDLEA operatives recovered over 13,391.8 kilogrammes of skunk.
In Ogun State, no fewer than 1,955kgs of the “illicit substance packed in 139 jumbo bags and stored in the warehouse of a wanted notorious drug dealer, Lekan Jimoh (aka Konmo Konmo) in Ado Odo Ota area of the state were recovered on Saturday 12th in collaboration with officers of the Nigerian Army.
“Similarly in Ondo, Ogbu Paul Odey, 30, Daniel Osidi, 34; John Iyage, 41, Friday Simon, 28; and Friday James, 24, were arrested in connection with the seizure and/or destruction of over 10,325.5kgs of cannabis sativa in Iju and Ala forests, in Akure area of the state between Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th August.
“While 22-year-old James Aga was arrested during the raid of an uncompleted building on the outskirts of Utese town in Ovia North East LGA of Edo State on Friday 11th August with 10kg skunk, 976kg of the same substance was recovered from the building in addition to the recovery of four motorcycles.
Other suspected drug dealer arrested by NDLEA
Other suspected drug dealer arrested by NDLEA
“In an earlier operation in Utese forest on Tuesday 8th August, at least 46.545kgs of skunk were recovered, and 1.581146 hectares of cannabis farms destroyed while two suspects: Onyelunisue Azuka, 48 and Abraham Ayomide, 30, were arrested.”
Also in Nasarawa state, 49-year-old Umar Abdullahi was arrested on Friday, 11th August, with 64.8kgs of cannabis sativa in Doma LGA.
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