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PHOTOS: NDLEA arrests wanted drug kingpin with 11.6kg cocaine, meth

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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, ending seven years of evading the long arm of the law.

NDLEA said the suspect was caught attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the Southeast and other parts of the country.

This was made known in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.

Babafemi disclosed that Okpara, who has been on the wanted list of NDLEA since 2019, was eventually nabbed at his hideout at 72 Michael Ojo Street, Isheri in the Ojo area of Lagos State on Sunday last week following the interception of some of his consignments at Ilasamaja along Apapa-Oshodi expressway.

In the early morning operation, a team of NDLEA officers, acting on credible intelligence, arrested one of Okpara’s couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi, while heading to Onitsha, Anambra State, in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.

The agency’s sniffer dogs were subsequently brought in to search the vehicle, after which 7.6 kilograms of cocaine and 900 grams of methamphetamine were found hidden in body compartments of the space bus.

A follow-up operation was promptly carried out at Okpara’s hideout in Isheri, where additional 1.8kg of cocaine and 1.3kg of methamphetamine were recovered from his residence.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives, in a joint operation with Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), on Wednesday, 16th July, recovered 7,790 pills of tramadol and rohypnol from the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, Omoregie Nice Uyiosa.

The suspect, who was going to Italy via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, claimed he purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in Italy at higher prices.

In another arrest at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives at the export shed on Thursday, 17th July, intercepted 17 parcels of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 1.70kg concealed in packs of popular cereal, Golden Morn, going to Pakistan as part of a consolidated cargo.

A suspect, Chioba Robert Uchenna, who presented the consignment for shipment, was arrested.

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives, on Saturday, 19th July, raided Sarah Sam Hotels located at 115 Ogudu Road in Kosofe, where different party drugs are being distributed and sold.

The raid followed credible intelligence and surveillance, which confirmed a suspect, Obayemi Oyetade, as the arrowhead of the drug network. At the time of the operation, 1.30kg of chocolate cannabis, 900 grams of gummies, and 22.9 grams of skunk were recovered from Obayemi’s room in the hotel, which is a 20-room facility run as a family business, housing his mother and siblings.

Other items recovered from the hotel include three vehicles.

Three suspects, Onyeka Madu, Monday Nwadishi, and Emmanuel Madu—were, on Saturday, 19th July, arrested during an intelligence-led raid at Narayi High Cost area of Chikun LGA, Kaduna State, where 742.866 kilograms of skunk and Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, were seized from them.

In Kano, Lawan Rabiu was nabbed with 36,000 pills of tramadol along Danbatta-Kazaure road on Wednesday, 16th July.

While a total of 25,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 were recovered from a suspect, Aliyu Abubakar, at Gombe roundabout on Friday, 18th July, the duo of Mohammed Adamu and Furaira Idris were arrested the same day with 49 blocks of compressed skunk that weighed 29kg at Kwadom, Yemaltu Deba LGA, Gombe State.

In Borno, NDLEA officers on patrol along Baga Road, Maiduguri, on Saturday, 19th July, intercepted 74,360 pills of opioids in a Mercedes Benz C180 car marked GUB 409 AA and arrested Audu Modu, 44, in connection with the seizure, while in Bayelsa State, a 63-year-old grandma, Akuna Nelson, was on Thursday, 17th July, arrested at Osiri area of Yenagoa in connection with the seizure of 163 litres of skuchies.

Four suspects, Ikechukwu Abugu, 42; Sunday Ani, 18; Chukwu Christian, 46; and Emmanuel Olisakwe, 55, were, on Thursday, 17th July, arrested by NDLEA operatives along Okene-Lokoja highway, Kogi State, in connection with the seizure of 2kg of methamphetamine recovered during a search of their vehicle coming from Onitsha, Anambra State to Minna, Niger State.

In Abia State, NDLEA officers, on Monday, 14th July, raided the base of a notorious drug dealer, Nduka Obi, 39, at 4 Niger Street, Ugwa Road, Aba, where various quantities of tramadol, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and a total of N736,000 monetary exhibit were recovered from him.

While a total of 45,000 pills of tramadol were seized from a suspect, Chisom Okpalaeke, 30, by NDLEA operatives on patrol along Onitsha – Enugu expressway, Enugu State, on Wednesday, 16th July, officers of the Taraba State Command of the agency, the same day, apprehended the duo of Ngwokwoka Thomas, 44, and Mohammed Audu, 44, with 10,000 caps of tramadol and a gram of cannabis at Dan Anacha, Gassol LGA.

Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of MMIA, SOU, Lagos, Kaduna, Osun, Bayelsa, Gombe, Borno, Abia, Kogi, Enugu, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.

Marwa also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

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Crime

Gunmen invade ex-Ogun LG chairman’s residence

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An armed gang on Thursday morning invaded the residence of former Ijebu-Ode Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Emilola Gazal, carting away valuables, cash, and his vehicle.

Gazal, who is also the publisher of The Roots Magazine, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with our correspondent.

“The three armed men broke into my residence at Ijebu-Ode GRA at about 2 a.m. They collected all the cash with me after which they forced me to open my bank apps on my phone and transfer everything there to an account they provided. They left only N5,000 in my account.

“They also made away with my wife’s trinkets and with my ash-colour car. They actually told me they would be going away with my car. I am just going to report the incident to the police at Igbeba and Obalende, Ijebu-Ode”, Gazal told our correspondent.

PUNCH Online reports that this incident comes amid a spate of violent robberies and home invasions reported across Ogun State, particularly in the Ijebu area.

For example, earlier this year, the Ogun State Police Command killed a suspected armed robber in a gun duel along the Sagamu–Ijebu Ode Expressway.

The command, on September 12, 2025, also recently arrested a man linked to a burglary and armed robbery in Ayetoro, amounting to about N1.5 million in stolen goods.

Meanwhile, the regional security network, Amotekun Corps, has in past operations engaged criminal gangs in shootouts, neutralising suspects in Ogun’s border zones.

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Crime

How my father got me trafficked with fake job at Baghdad supermarket — Victim

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Following a six-hour raid by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, which led to the rescue of 24 suspected victims of human trafficking, one of the victims has vowed to sue her father for deceiving her into being trafficked.

The victim claimed that she was told by her father that his friend had a job for her at a supermarket in Baghdad, and was totally convinced she was going to better her life until her rescue by NAPTIP.

“My father told me that his friend has a job for me at a supermarket in Baghdad. He did not tell me that it is in Iraq.

“I know that Iraq is not a good place to work for now due to the crisis there, but I did not know that Baghdad is in Iraq. I thank the DG and her officers for rescuing me,” the victim said.

Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, who led a high-powered special operation team to the airport following a tip-off, revealed that among the suspected human traffickers arrested was a retired senior uniformed officer with one of the foremost law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, who is alleged to be a prominent member of the trafficking syndicate operating within the South West region of Nigeria.

In a statement by the National Press Officer of the agency on Wednesday, Bello said: “We observed that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is becoming a comfort zone for these traffickers, and that is why we have decided to shift attention to this airport.

“We will sustain this raid until they stop this unpatriotic and illicit trade in human beings.”

Expressing confidence in her team following the operation, she said: “We were able to arrest five suspected members of the trafficking gang who have been recruiting and trafficking our citizens to various tension-soaked countries, especially in the Middle East, for exploitation,” the DG said.

Bello explained that the victims, whose ages range between 15 and 26 years, were recruited from Kano, Katsina, Oyo, Ondo, and Rivers States, and were heading to Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Afghanistan.

The DG pointed out that a good number of the victims could not communicate in any other language apart from their local dialect, and most did not even know the location of their intended country of destination.

“They told my mother that they were taking me to Europe, where I would work and earn dollars. My parents were happy and they allowed me to follow them,” another victim narrated after the DG explained, with facts, what awaited them at their final destinations after being successfully trafficked.

Speaking further on the development, Bello expressed sadness over the activities of suspected human traffickers and unregistered labour recruiters, who have continued to deceive, recruit, and traffic Nigerians for various forms of exploitation.

“I was amazed that a father, who is a retired law enforcement officer of senior cadre, deceived his daughter and packaged her to be trafficked to Iraq for exploitation.

“This is incredibly unbelievable. All of them will be thoroughly investigated, and they will face the law.”

The NAPTIP boss commended the support of sister agencies at the airport, including the Director-General of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Manager, among others.

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Crime

Soldiers foil terrorists attack in Taraba, kill two suspects

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Troops of 6 Brigade Nigerian Army/ Sector 3, Operation Whirl Stroke, have successfully foiled a terrorist attack and neutralised two suspected terrorists in Taraba.

This is contained in a statement released on Wednesday by Lt. Umar Muhammad, Acting Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 6 Brigade Nigerian Army, Jalingo.

“Acting on credible intelligence, troops on  October 1, 2025, advanced to Tor-Ikyeghgba village where bandits were reported to be converging.

“On arrival at the general area, the troops made contact with the terrorists along the powerline axis and immediately engaged them with superior firepower, resulting in the neutralisation of two.

“During the operation, the following items were recovered; one locally fabricated pistol, two dane guns, three rounds of 7.62 mm special ammunition, one Baofeng radio, one motorcycle and other items,” it stated.

He quoted Brig. Gen. Kingsley Uwa, Commander of the brigade, commended the troops for their swift response, resilience, and professionalism.

Muhammad also quoted the Commander, as urging the troops to maintain the momentum,  assuring residents of the state that the brigade remained fully committed to ensuring their safety.

He therefore, called on members of the public to continue to support the ongoing operation ‘Lafiya na kowa’  by providing timely and credible information that would aid in the fight against criminality.

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