The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested two elderly men in Abia State for allegedly supplying illicit drugs to secondary school students as part of ongoing efforts to curb drug abuse and trafficking across the country.
The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying the suspects, identified as 84-year-old Godfrey Orji and 75-year-old Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, were arrested in separate intelligence-led operations in Umuahia.
Babafemi said Obiora was arrested on June 19 following reports that he had been selling illicit substances to students and other residents from his patent medicine store located on Club Road, Umuahia.
According to him, a search conducted at the premises led to the recovery of 4.64 kilogrammes of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
He added that Orji, a pensioner, was arrested on June 18 after he was allegedly caught supplying drugs to two teenage students at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia.
“The guards thereafter handed them over to the police who in turn transferred them to NDLEA on Thursday, June 18,” Babafemi stated.
One of the students, a 15-year-old Senior Secondary School Two pupil, reportedly told investigators that Orji supplied him with drugs for personal use and resale to other students within the school.
The NDLEA spokesman said the two elderly suspects would be prosecuted, while the teenagers involved had been enrolled in counselling and rehabilitation programmes.
In Lagos State, the agency said its operatives intercepted a 9.5kg consignment of ADB Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid classified as a dangerous psychoactive substance, concealed in a shipment from China.
Babafemi also disclosed that 300 grammes of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, was recovered from ladies’ handbags during another operation.
He further revealed that operatives raided the residence of a wanted suspect, Lukman Badmus, also known as Lukman Ogombo, in Ajah, Lagos, where codeine syrup and skunk were recovered.
A follow-up operation at a shop belonging to the suspect’s wife on Lagos Island led to the seizure of additional codeine, drug paraphernalia and 22.5kg of skunk concealed in a minibus.
In Kogi State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 33-year-old suspect, Tochukwu Onah, along the Okene-Lokoja highway with 1.03kg of methamphetamine hidden inside custard containers while travelling from Lagos to Abuja.
The agency also announced the arrest of a wanted couple, James Tony Chukwudi, 48, and James Kehinde, 35, in Ekiti State in connection with a 117kg skunk seizure recorded in March.
Similarly, a 75-year-old suspect, Tudun Olubiyi, alongside Nasiru Buhari, 22, and Buba Musa, 47, was arrested in Oyo State after operatives recovered 1,416kg of skunk concealed in 118 jumbo bags covered with sawdust.
Babafemi said additional arrests and seizures were recorded in Edo State, while anti-drug awareness campaigns continued nationwide under the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse initiative.
Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the offensive against drug trafficking while expanding preventive sensitisation campaigns across the country.
