The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded a major breakthrough in its fight against narcotics, with the arrest of a notorious drug kingpin and the interception of opioids valued at over N7.8 billion.
The 36-year-old suspect, identified as Sunday Ibigide, was apprehended in Asaba, Delta State, after three years on the run. He was caught while attempting to move 250 blocks of skunk weighing 138 kilograms with his distribution bus.
NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, disclosed that Ibigide had been declared wanted since March 2022 over drug trafficking offences but evaded arrest until credible intelligence led operatives to his hideout. One of his aides, Clement Osuya, was also arrested during the operation.
In addition to the Delta arrest, NDLEA operatives made nationwide seizures and raids. At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Rivers State, no fewer than 875,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N6.1 billion and 3.5 million pills of opioids valued at N1.7 billion were recovered from five containers during a joint operation with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
Across states including Enugu, Lagos, Taraba, Edo, Kano, Kaduna, and Gombe, tonnes of cannabis farms were destroyed, and large consignments of tramadol, skunk, ketamine injections, and Canadian Loud were seized. Several suspects, including a 52-year-old woman, Muyibat Mumuni, and her son, Faruk, were among those arrested.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the operatives for their resilience and charged them to sustain the momentum in the agency’s drug war.
