An 84-year-old grandpa, Godfrey Orji, and 75-year-old Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora are now cooling their heels in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) following their arrest for dealing in illicit substances, which they sell to teenage secondary school students in Umuahia, Abia state capital.
An NDLEA statement on Sunday said Pa Obiora was arrested by operatives of the agency on Friday, following credible intelligence that he was selling illicit substances to young students and others in his patent medicine store located at 4 Club Road, Umuahia, where 4.64 kilograms of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam, were recovered from him during a search of his premises.
In his case, Pa Orji, who is a pensioner and also into the illicit drug trade, was nabbed by security guards at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia, for supplying illicit drugs to two teenage students (names withheld) in the school. The guards thereafter handed them over to the police, who in turn transferred them to NDLEA on 18th June.
In his statement, one of the two teenagers, an 84-year-old SS2 student, claimed the 84-year-old grandpa supplies him the drugs which he takes and also sells to fellow students. While the two grandpas are billed to have their day in court, the students have been placed on counselling and rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives have intercepted a consignment of ADB Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid classified as a dangerous new psychoactive substance (NPS), at a courier firm in Lagos. The shipment coming from China with a gross weight of 9.5 kilograms was concealed in a carton.
This was followed by another seizure on 16th June at a different logistics company in Lagos, where 300 grams of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, were found hidden in ladies’ handbags.
In another interdiction operation in Lagos, NDLEA officers on Friday raided the home of a wanted drug dealer Lukman Badmus (a.k.a. Lukman Ogombo) in the Ogombo area of Ajah, where nine bottles of codeine syrup and 30 grams of skunk were recovered.
A swift follow-up operation at Lukman’s wife’s shop in the Patey area of Lagos Island led to the recovery of two additional bottles of codeine and drug paraphernalia, while 42 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 22.5kg were also recovered from a mini bus parked in front of her shop. An attempt by the wife, Aisha Saraki, to flush some of the drug exhibits in the toilet during the raid was thwarted by operatives.
In Kogi state, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Okene/Lokoja highway on Friday intercepted a suspect, Tochukwu Onah, coming from Lagos to Abuja with 1.030 kg of methamphetamine concealed in custard containers, while a couple: James Tony Chukwudi and James Kehinde, wanted in connection with the seizure of 117 kilograms of skunk since 26th March, 2026 in Ekiti state, were eventually arrested on Oniyo Street, Efon-Alaaye-Ekiti, on 16th June after months on the run.
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In Oyo state, 75-year-old Tudun Olubiyi and two others: Nasiru Buhari and Buba Musa were arrested by NDLEA operatives when their house, located in Dangote area, Elekara, Oyo town, was raided on Saturday with 118 jumbo bags containing 1,416kg skunk covered with sawdust recovered.
A suspect, Patrick Imoukhede, the NDLEA statement said, was arrested on 17th June when NDLEA officers raided the Khagba forest, Ikao, Owan East LGA, where they destroyed 1,744.075kg of skunk and recovered already processed 169kg of same substance, while another raid at Ebora Camp, Ilushi in Esan South LGA led to the destruction of 2,424.945kg of cannabis, with a suspect, Augustine Anyamone, apprehended with 395kg of skunk in a separate operation in the area.
With the same zeal, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, among others, in the past week.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Lagos, Kogi, and Edo Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitisation activities while he charged them and their compatriots across the country not to rest on their laurels.
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