Crime
PHOTOS: NDLEA arrests Chinese businessman, 80-yr-old grandma with Colos in moimoi sachets
A Chinese businessman Liang Tak You and an 80-year-old grandma Mrs. Grace Ekpeme top the list of arrests made by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in nationwide interdiction operations leading to the seizure of consignments of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis hidden in moimoi sachets and Canadian Loud, another strong strain of cannabis concealed in canned food items imported from Canada.
Liang was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos on Friday 25th July 2025 based on actionable intelligence.
The suspect, who arrived Nigeria from Bangkok via Dubai, UAE, on Emirates Airline flight, is a Chinese national, naturalised and based in Malaysia, but flew to Thailand where he picked two suitcases filled with 50 parcels of Loud weighing 26.10kg before heading to Nigeria via UAE.
Upon his arrival at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives who were tracking his movement from his port of departure allowed him to pass through necessary protocols before picking him up on his way out of the airport.
The octogenarian grandma Mrs. Grace Ekpeme was arrested at Edet-Nsa street, Base Site, Calabar South, Cross River state with over 3kg skunk in the early hours of Saturday 26th July following intelligence on her drug dealing activities.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 23rd July intercepted a suspect Chidi Agbafo along Epe – Ajah expressway while taking consignments of 21.7kg Colorado, some of which were packaged in moimoi cooking sachets and 3.8litres of codeine based syrub in a commercial bus to deliver in Warri and Oghara, Delta state.
At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, a total of 101kg Canadian Loud factory packed in 202 tins of imported food item labelled ‘Bean Salad Mix’ and concealed in two Toyota Sienna buses in a container that came from Canada, were recovered.
The discovery was made during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service and other security agencies on Friday 25th July.
No fewer than 71,000 pills of tramadol, diazepam and exol-5 were recovered from Usman Musa by NDLEA operatives on patrol along Abuja- Kaduna highway on Wednesday 23rd July when the suspect was travelling with the consignment of opioids in a commercial bus going to Kano.
In Borno, a 30-year-old lady Binta Usman was on Wednesday 23rd July arrested by NDLEA officers who recovered 30.1kg skunk from her house at Muna Moforo area of Maiduguri.
A follow up operation later led to the arrest of her accomplice Bala Abdullahi in the same area of the Borno state capital on Friday 25th July.
Three brothers: Nanna Ozirinye, Chizom Ozirinye and Maxwell Ozirinye were on Saturday 26th July arrested when NDLEA operatives raided a cannabis plantation at bending corner forest, Idoani, Ose local council area of Ondo State where they destroyed 2,500 kilograms of skunk on an hectare of land and recovered already processed 121.4kg of same psychoactive substance.
In Edo state, NDLEA officers on Wednesday 23rd July raided the Asakpa community in Benin city, where they arrested a 26-year-old lady Bright Sunday Okon and recovered various quantities of Colorado, Loud, Arizona and skunk, all strains of cannabis as well as Methamphetamine from her.
While a total of 105.4kg skunk was recovered by NDLEA operatives from an abandoned Honda car marked ABC 204 KM in Keffi, Nasarawa state, their counterparts in Niger state on Monday 21st July arrested a suspect Bashir Abdullahi with 6,400 pills of tramadol 225mg at Kasuwan Gwari area of Minna, even as a notorious drug dealer Jamiu Omolaja was taken into custody and 113kg skunk retrieved from his enclave in Ifo, Ogun state on Thursday 24th July after a violent resistance and attack on NDLEA operatives by members of his gang.
A total of 10,910 capsules of tramadol were seized from a suspect Adamu Adamu (a.k.a Dankyado) by NDLEA officers on patrol along Gombe-Bajoga road, Gombe state on Saturday 26th July, while operatives in Kogi state on Thursday 24th July intercepted a consignment of skunk concealed inside garri, dried scent leaves, and other food items along Okene-Lokoja highway.
A follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of 27-year-old Kindness Bala who was planning to travel to Katsina state with the cargo and later to Qatar.
Similarly, operatives in Kogi on Saturday 26th July recovered 23,600 pills of tramadol, 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 700 grams of skunk from a truck at a motor park in Ayingba area of the state.
The War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week. Some of them include: WADA sensitization lecture delivered to students and staff of Komu/Babaode High School, Babaode, Itesiwaju LGA, Oyo state; Beacon Christian Academy, Ngodo, Afikpo LGA, Ebonyi; Government Day Secondary School, Araba, Illela, Sokoto; and Government Junior College, Agege, Lagos; while the Anambra state command of NDLEA paid WADA advocacy visit to the traditional rulers of Awka community, Obi Gibson Nwosu, Ezeuzu 11 and Ukpo community, Igwe Robert Eze, Okofia VI, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Apapa, Lagos, Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Ogun, Gombe, Kaduna and Kogi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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A man identified as David Moses has confessed to the gruesome killing of a school nurse and a 14-month-old child at a school in the Dawaki area of Abuja, blaming his actions on pressure from an alleged accomplice named Sunday, who is currently at large.
Moses, a security guard deployed to the school, made the confession while being interrogated by journalists at the Federal Capital Territory police command on Friday.
He said he and Sunday had planned to kidnap the victims for ransom, initially demanding ₦250 million before settling for ₦3 million.
“What brought me here is that I killed a child with a nurse in Clear Hope School on July 23. Me and my friend, we demanded for ₦250 ransom. Later on, we later settled for ₦3 million. Which we collected,” he said.
According to him, the incident took a violent turn when a dispute over the ransom money broke out between him and Sunday.
He added that he later sought help and eventually confessed to the police after receiving treatment in a hospital.
“When we collected the money and were sharing it, that was when we had an issue. My friend stabbed me with a knife, took the money, and ran away. I struggled and took myself to someone’s house and told the person what was going on. But I didn’t tell the full truth at that time because I was afraid the community might have killed me immediately.
“I insisted on seeing the police so they could take me to the hospital and I could explain the whole story properly. The man told me to wait while he called the police. When the police came, they took me to the hospital. After I received treatment, they began to ask me what happened, and I started narrating the whole story from the beginning.”
Detailing how the school nurse was killed, Moses said she was lured into a trap under the guise of checking something in a toilet, where Sunday allegedly strangled her with a rope.
Moses said, “I went to call her from her class, while Sunday was hiding in the toilet. When I called her, I told her I wanted to show her something near the front toilet where Sunday was hiding. As we were going, he came out from behind and held the woman. He put a rope around her neck and started strangling her she struggled but eventually became weak.”
The child, he said, was later also taken and killed at Sunday’s insistence.
Moses said, “Then he told me to run and go bring the baby so we could also kill the baby. I said no, that the woman alone was enough. He insisted, saying that if we didn’t bring the baby, the ransom we demanded wouldn’t be enough. So, I went and brought the baby.”
When asked how many people he had killed or kidnapped before, he said, “I have never done such a thing. This was the first time someone pushed me into any evil act.”
Probed further on his relationship with the woman and the baby, he said she gave him ₦300 to buy food the day she was killed.
Moses said, “There’s no relationship. The woman was nice to me. In fact, that very day, she gave me ₦300 to buy food. She had been giving me money to eat even before then.”
Zachariah Fiyinfoluwa, a representative of the security company that employed Moses distanced himself from the crime, saying he was only informed of the disappearance of the nurse and child after the school principal raised an alarm.
“I don’t know anybody called Sunday. The person we posted to the school is David,” he said.
However, under questioning, Fiyinfoluwa admitted that the company failed to properly document Moses’ employment, including failing to keep his guarantor’s information.
“For us not to keep the record, I accept that it’s our fault,” he said.
When pressed further on the company’s responsibility, especially for the safety of persons within the premises, Fiyinfoluwa admitted that supervisors were supposed to routinely visit deployment sites but did not confirm if such oversight occurred at Claire Hope School.
In an interview with the Commissioner of Police, Ajao Adewale said the victims were reported missing on July 23, 2025, from the school the same day, a ransom demand of ₦250 million was made via the caregiver’s phone.
The CP said following an investigation, police operatives arrested Moses, who later confessed to conspiring with his friend, Sunday Irimiya currently at large to carry out the crime.
He said, “On July 23, 2025, the FCT Police Command received a distress report concerning the sudden disappearance of Mrs. Chinyere Anaene, a 55-year-old school nurse and caregiver at Clear Hope Foundation Academy, Dawaki, Abuja, and a toddler identified as Nanenter Asher Yese, aged one year and two months.
“On the same day, the husband of the caregiver received a call on the caregiver’s mobile phone wherein unidentified individuals demanded a ransom of ₦250 million for their release.”
“Despite having killed the victims, they still demanded ₦3 million from the family under the pretence that the victims were alive,” Adewale said.
He said the police have also arrested the school principal, two other security guards, and the Chief Security Officer of the private security company that deployed Moses to the school.
“In the course of our investigation, the police also arrested the school principal, two additional security guards who were meant to be on duty with David Moses, and the Chief Security Officer of the private security company responsible for deploying the guards to the school, ” he said.
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The fine was recommended by Parliament’s Joint Ethics Committee, which found Mashatile in violation of the country’s asset declaration rules.
South Africa Vice President Paul Mashatile has been fined R10,000 by the country’s parliament.
He was fined for failing to declare a diamond gift received from businessman, Louis Liebenberg.
Liebenberg is currently on trial for alleged fraud involving a diamond investment scheme.
The fine was recommended by Parliament’s Joint Ethics Committee, which found Mashatile in violation of the country’s asset declaration rules.
The matter was brought to the committee’s attention by Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip George Michalakis, who raised concerns after reviewing Mashatile’s asset declarations in March.
In a statement on Thursday, the DA welcomed the committee’s decision and called for a broader investigation into Mashatile’s relationship with Liebenberg.
“There are also questions around the legality of this diamond, its nature, source, and certification,” the party said, adding that both the Vice President and the Department of Justice must provide clarity.
The party also demanded an explanation regarding a reported visit by Liebenberg to Mashatile’s residence in November 2023.
Meanwhile, the Vice President is also under scrutiny over the declaration of two properties valued at R63 million. He has denied ownership, saying the properties belong to his son-in-law.
“People must read. There’s nothing in Parliament that says I own a house. I said I live there. That house is owned by my son-in-law,” Mashatile said in response to questions about the properties. “There is no government money in those houses. So what are you looking for?”
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The Niger State Police Command has arrested a 10-man syndicate in Minna suspected of specialising in the international trafficking of unsuspecting victims, along with 36 undocumented youths of different nationalities.
According to the command’s spokesman, SP Wasiu Abiodun, the syndicate operated under false pretences as travel agents, engaging in the extortion of their victims.
Abiodun revealed that the suspects were arrested on July 18, 2025, at about 12:30 pm, following credible intelligence received about their activities along 123 Quarters, Minna.
Those arrested include Sokou Doumbia, Thiarno Balbe, Hashimu Dauda Kolo, Usman Doumbia, Musa Konate, Lamine Watara, Acine Diouf, Adamu Zarbu, Alhassan Konde and Dango Aminatu.
They were discovered to be nationals of various neighbouring West African countries and primarily spoke French, except for their Nigerian collaborator, Hashimu, who provided accommodation for the syndicate in Minna.
The operation led to the rescue of 36 undocumented youths from countries such as Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
He disclosed that, during interrogation, they claimed to have come to Nigeria for an online business.
All the suspects and victims have been transferred to Interpol for further investigation and other necessary actions.
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