By Godwin Tsa, Abuja
After a three-year manhunt, a 36-year-old notorious drug kingpin, Sunday Ibigide, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for drug trafficking offences. Ibigide was apprehended in Asaba, Delta State, while attempting to move 250 blocks of skunk weighing 138 kilograms in his distribution bus.
A statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the drug kingpin came under scrutiny on March 19, 2022, in connection with the seizure of 24.137kg of the same psychoactive substance and 10 grams of molly but thereafter went underground. However, following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives in Delta State arrested him along with one of his aides, Clement Osuya, 27, while they were trying to move the 250 parcels of skunk for distribution on Sunday, August 10, 2025.
No fewer than six suspects were arrested on Thursday and Friday, August 14 and 15, when NDLEA operatives, supported by the military and vigilantes, raided three cannabis farms in Enugu Ezike, Enugu State, where a total of 37,500kg of skunk was destroyed on 15 hectares of farmland. Those arrested include: Ugwuanyi Chinaso, 23; James Negedu, 26; Sopuruchukwu Obido, 22; Ebuka Onu, 30; Ukwueze Sunday, 42; and Oguche Friday; while 74.5kg of the illicit substance was recovered for the prosecution of the suspects.
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While 20,700 pills of tramadol and cocodamol were seized from a suspect, Emmanuel Ayogu, 53, by NDLEA officers on patrol along Nsukka Road, 9th Mile, Enugu, on Saturday, August 16, two other suspects, Nsubechukwu Achidde, 24, and Osiaja Simple Frank, 41, were arrested with 27.6kg of skunk the same day at New Market, Enugu.
In Lagos, a 52-year-old woman, Muyibat Mumuni, was arrested with her son, Faruk Mumuni, 25, by NDLEA operatives at Ladega Street, Mushin, on Wednesday, August 13, for storing and distributing 298 blocks of Ghana Loud weighing 149kg, while another suspect, Emmanuel Samuel, was nabbed on Friday, August 15, in the Ajah area of Lekki, where 8.5kg of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis, was recovered from their apartment.
No fewer than 128,000 capsules of tramadol were recovered from a suspect, Sani Mohammed, 32, arrested by NDLEA officers at Jauro Jatau, Gombe, Gombe State, on Monday, August 11, while a total of 337,800 capsules of the same pharmaceutical opioid were seized by operatives on patrol along Okene-Lokoja Highway, Kogi State, from the driver of a commercial bus, Sulaiman Oyedokun, 47, coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, and heading to Kotangora, Niger State.
While a total of 11,250kg of skunk was destroyed on 4.5 hectares of farmland on Tuesday, August 12, when NDLEA operatives, assisted by the Sardauna Emirate Council and the Nigeria Forest Hunters Security Service, raided the Tanmiya Forest in Sardauna LGA, Taraba State, 29,840 capsules of tramadol were seized from a suspect, Saleh Babangida, 20, at a checkpoint in the Wukari area of the state on Saturday, August 16.
In Kaduna, two suspects, Mohammed Amdife, 46, and Sulaiman Mohammed, 22, were arrested in connection with the seizure of 22,640 pills of tramadol and rohypnol at Gwargwaje checkpoint, Zaria, and Tudun Wada area of the state. Two other suspects, Caroline David, 51, and Abdulhadi Umar, 30, were nabbed over the seizure of 111.1kg of skunk intercepted along the Zaria-Kano Road.
At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, a total of 875,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N6.1 billion in street value and 3,500,000 pills of trodol benzhexol valued at N1.7 billion were recovered from five containers under NDLEA intelligence tracking and watch-list during a joint examination with the Customs Service and other security agencies on Wednesday and Thursday, August 13 and 14, at the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) of the Onne Port.
In Edo, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, August 13, recovered 24 bags of skunk weighing 432kg in a bush along Warake-Auchi Road in Etsako West LGA, while 130kg of the same substance was seized at a warehouse in Sobe, Owan West LGA, the following day.
A suspect, Tahiru Madu Manga, 25, was nabbed by NDLEA officers along the Zaria-Kano Road with 16kg of skunk, and another suspect, Ibrahim Audu, 47, was arrested with 76kg of the same psychoactive substance at Gadar Tamburawa along the Zaria-Kano Road, Kano State, on Wednesday, August 13.
No fewer than 4,320 ampoules of ketamine injection were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the Gbaji checkpoint along the Badagry-Lagos Highway on Monday, August 11, with a suspect, Akeem Adegun, arrested.
In like manner, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities in the past week. These include WADA advocacy visits to former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, in Minna, Niger State; the Emir of Borgu Kingdom, HRH Alhaji Muhammad Haliru Dantoro, Kitoro IV, in Borgu Kingdom, Niger State; the Emir of Lafia, Hon. Justice Sidi Bage Mohammed (Rtd), in Lafia, Nasarawa State; and the Shehu of Borno, HRH Dr. Abubakar Umar Ibn Garbai Elkanemi, in Maiduguri, Borno State, among others.
While commending the officers and men of PHPC, Gombe, Kogi, Lagos, Edo, Kano, Delta, Taraba, and Seme Commands for the arrests and seizures, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
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