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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested two elderly men, aged 84 and 75, over allegations that they supplied and sold illicit drugs to secondary school students in Umuahia, Abia State.
The suspects, identified as Godfrey Orji, 84, and Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, 75, were picked up in separate operations by NDLEA operatives.
According to the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Obiora was arrested on June 19 after intelligence revealed he was selling illicit substances to students and other buyers from his patent medicine store on Club Road, Umuahia. A search of the shop led to the recovery of 4.64 kilograms of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
Orji, described as a pensioner, was caught supplying drugs to two teenage students at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia. School security guards intercepted him and handed him over to the police, who later transferred him to the NDLEA. One of the students, a 15-year-old SS2 pupil, reportedly admitted during questioning that the elderly man regularly supplied him with drugs, some of which he resold to classmates.
While both elderly suspects face prosecution, the affected students have been enrolled in counselling and rehabilitation programmes.
The agency also reported several other seizures and arrests nationwide. In Lagos, operatives intercepted a 9.5kg shipment of ADB-Chminaca, a dangerous synthetic cannabinoid, hidden in a carton at a courier firm, and recovered 300 grams of a potent cannabis strain known as Loud from ladies’ handbags at a logistics company. A separate raid on the Ajah home of wanted dealer Lukman Badmus, also known as Lukman Ogombo, turned up codeine syrup and skunk, while a follow-up search of his wife’s shop on Lagos Island uncovered more codeine, drug paraphernalia, and over 22kg of compressed skunk blocks. His wife, Aisha Saraki, allegedly attempted to flush some evidence down a toilet during the raid but was stopped by officers.
In Kogi State, a 33-year-old suspect was arrested along the Okene–Lokoja Highway with over a kilogram of methamphetamine concealed in custard containers. Two men wanted for a 117kg skunk seizure in Ekiti earlier this year were also apprehended, while in Oyo State, three suspects were arrested during a raid that uncovered more than 1,400kg of skunk disguised under sawdust.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives destroyed thousands of kilograms of cannabis after raiding farms in Owan East and Esan South local government areas, arresting a 45-year-old suspect in the process.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the commands involved across the six states and urged officers nationwide to stay committed to the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.
