The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has successfully dismantled two major cross-border drug trafficking syndicates, recovering cocaine and opioids worth billions of naira.
According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s spokesperson, six leaders of the cartels were arrested in different parts of the country, including Adamawa, Anambra, and Lagos states, as well as Cameroon.
The syndicates, which included Nigerians and Cameroonians, were under NDLEA’s surveillance for months, suspected of supplying drugs to terrorist groups operating in Nigeria and Cameroon.
Leaders of the syndicates arrested include Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Anayo, Ezeh Martin, and Adejumo Ishola.
Intelligence gathered revealed that some psychoactive substances, including tramadol, were sourced by Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib from a notorious drug dealer in Onitsha, Nelson Udechukwu Anayo.
The drugs were then packed and concealed in vehicles at the premises of Ezeh Amaechi Martin, an associate of Udechukwu.
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 marked DKA 57 TT, which they abandoned on the Jalingo-Yola expressway.
Other successful operations by NDLEA include the interception of 31,750,000 pills of 240mg Voltron, a controlled opioid, at the Apapa seaport on November 6, and the seizure of a 700-gram consignment of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on November 5.
