Connect with us

Crime

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

Published

on

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.

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Crime

PHOTOS: 14 children ‘trafficked from Adamawa and sold for N800,000 each in Anambra’ are rescued

Published

on

14 children trafficked from Adamawa State and sold in Anambra State for amounts ranging from N800,000 to N1.7 million have been rescued by Adamawa State Government.

On Wednesday, August 20, the Adamawa State government reunited the rescued children with their parents at a ceremony in Yola, the Adamawa state capital.

Speaking during the ceremony, Kaletapwa George Farauta, Adamawa deputy governor, said after numerous reports of missing children in July, the government set up a joint operation with security agencies to unravel the situation.

Farauta said the operation led to the arrest of one Ngozi Abdulwahab, a suspected trafficking kingpin, who operates a small provision shop in Jambutu Ward, Yola north LGA.

The deputy governor said the suspect reportedly used snacks and gifts to lure children between the ages of 4-9 before trafficking them to Anambra.

14 children ?trafficked from Adamawa and sold for N800,000 each in Anambra? are rescued

“It is a mixed feeling of sadness and joy, it is sad that today, Adamawa is on the map of an unfortunate monster ravaging the nation, the monster of child trafficking,” she said.

“This is a story we often hear happening far away, but unfortunately, it has caught up with us.

“This notorious trafficker has perfected the art of trafficking minors aged four to nine years from various communities in Adamawa to the south-eastern region of Nigeria.

“There, she sold the victims for paltry sums ranging from N800,000 to N1.7 million per child.

“She operated from a small provision shop which she owned at Jambutu ward, Yola-North LGA, where she used snacks and gifts to lure unsuspecting children.

“Today, we have rescued 14 children and rehabilitated them.”

The deputy governor said the suspects would be prosecuted under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015, Adamawa Child Protection Law (2008), the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law 2021, and the Penal Code of the state.

She added that the family of each rescued child would receive N100,000, food, and non-food items.

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading

Crime

PHOTOS: Nigeria deports 51 foreigners jailed for cyberterrorism and internet fraud

Published

on

The Nigerian Immigration Service on Thursday, August 21, deported 50 additional foreign nationals convicted and sentenced for cyber-terrorism and internet fraud by the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The convicted foreigners were part of the 192 Chinese and Philippine nationals arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in December 2024.

The repatriated foreign nationals include 50 Chinese and one Tunisian. This brings the total of deported convicts to 102 in the ongoing exercise that commenced on Friday, August 15, 2025.

The anti-graft agency had claimed that before the raid, the cybercrime syndicate had a large-scale operation involving cyber fraud and Ponzi schemes.

The charges against the convicts included using false identities online to defraud victims, training Genting International Co. Limited employees in fraudulent practices, and other offences under the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of 2006.

The anti-graft agency had stated that these charges reflect serious crimes aimed at undermining Nigeria’s security and financial integrity through cybercrime and fraud.

EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede has described the convictions and deportations as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s fight against cybercrime and financial fraud.

He reiterated the Commission’s commitment to intensifying investigations, recovering looted funds, and restoring national dignity in line with President Bola Tinubu’s anti-corruption agenda.

See more photos of the ex-convicts being deported below

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading

Crime

20 trafficked Ghanaians found in Akwa Ibom

Published

on

Twenty Ghanaian nationals suspected to be victims of human trafficking have been rescued from a compound in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The victims, comprising 10 men and 10 women, were freed during a joint operation by the Akwa Ibom State Police Command, the Ghana Police Service, and INTERPOL.

Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Timfon John, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, August 20, said the raid followed a formal request for assistance from Ghanaian authorities. “On August 18, 2025, operatives of the Command successfully rescued 20 Ghanaians trafficked to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State,” she said.

Acting on credible intelligence, security operatives stormed a fenced building located in Obio Etoi, Uyo Local Government Area, at about 4:17 p.m. on Monday, August 18. “The raid led to the rescue of 10 males and 10 females (names withheld), all confirmed to be Ghanaian nationals. The victims presently appear disoriented and have been unable to provide useful information, leading investigators to suspect they may have been hypnotised,” the statement read.

DSP John added that investigation is ongoing and assured that further updates will be made public in due course.

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading

Trending