The NDLEA apprehends six kingpins and unearths transnational narcotics syndicate

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested six drug lords from Adamawa, Anambra, and Lagos states, as well as Cameroon, and demolished two significant cross-border drug trafficking syndicates.

The group had been under the NDLEA's monitoring for several months because they were major drug suppliers to terrorist organizations in Cameroon and Nigeria, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the agency's spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.


"After months of meticulous surveillance and intelligence collection, NDLEA agents have taken down two significant transnational drug trafficking organizations, recovering cocaine and opioids valued at billions of naira," he stated. Six cartel leaders were taken into custody across the nation.

"The syndicates, which comprise Mubi-based Nigerians, after being suspected of being major drug suppliers to terrorist organizations operating in Nigeria and Cameroon, Adamawa State, Onitsha, Anambra State, Lagos State, and Cameroonians were brought under the NDLEA's scrutiny.

Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Anayo, Ezeh Martin, and Adejumo Ishola are among the syndicate leaders who have been detained thus far. According to information obtained, Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib frequently purchased psychoactive substances, such as tramadol, from Nelson Udechukwu Anayo, a well-known drug dealer in Onitsha. They then packed and hidden the drugs in cars at the home of Udechukwu associate Ezeh Amaechi Martin.

"In specially built false compartments of vehicles, Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib would transport the drugs from Onitsha to Yola and then to other parts of the North and Cameroon. The vehicles travelled from the East to the North at night."

Additionally, according to Babafemi, on October 7, 2024, Bawuro and Najib were apprehended in Taraba the next day after being pursued from Onitsha, where they had gone to buy another consignment. When they realized NDLEA agents were pursuing them, they abandoned a Toyota Avensis saloon car with the license plate DKA 57 TT on the Jalingo-Yola expressway, where 276,500 tramadol pills were found.

Following that, follow-up operations were conducted in the states of Delta and Anambra, where NDLEA Directorate of Intelligence agents arrested Ezeh Amaechi Martin and Udechukwu Nelson Anayo. They coordinated the entire operation with their counterparts in Taraba, Adamawa, Delta, and Anambra," he continued.

Babafemi added that Ishola, another syndicate boss, was detained on Tuesday, November 5, at the Seme border in Lagos while travelling from Ghana with 600 kilos of synthetic cannabis and 3.3 kilograms of cocaine. After months of intelligence and monitoring on the 37-year-old's illegal cross-border operations, he was taken into custody.

In a separate operation in Lagos, Babafemi reported that on November 6, agents at the Apapa ports seized 31,750,000 240 mg Voltron tablets, a controlled opioid, which were disguised as 100 mg tablets of diclofenac sodium and bundled in a container imported from India.

"The discovery was made during a joint examination of the container with Customs Service officers and other security agencies," he continued.

On Tuesday, November 5, NDLEA officers stopped a 700-gram shipment of Loud, a potent cannabis strain, at the import shed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos. When Olu Marshal, a software engineer, arrived to pick up the item, he was taken into custody right away. A subsequent search of his Lekki residence turned up drug paraphernalia, including a cannabis crusher.

Babafemi added that another suspect, Orji Nnaorji, attempted to send 5.70 kg of cannabis and 32.50 kg of codeine syrup to On November 8, 2024, among other interceptions, operators stopped London, UK, from passing through the export shed of the Lagos airport while hidden in tiger nut cargo.

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