NDLEA arrests monarch, Chadian

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Ba’ale (village head) of Akarabata, in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Chief Ige Babatunde, with fresh Indian hemp weighing 5kg.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement, said the 50-year-old monarch was arrested on Friday, July 5.

In a related development, Babafemi said officers on a stop-and-search operation on the Ngurore-Yola road in Adamawa State on Wednesday, July 3, arrested a Chadian, Yves Ahmat Gali, in a commercial bus coming from Kano State and found on him a loudspeaker case used to conceal 20 compressed blocks and nine plastic containers of Loud, a strong strain of hemp, weighing 5.200kg.

Babafemi also operatives also raided the Lagos base of a high-profile cocaine syndicate headed by a couple, Mr and Mrs John Agbakoba, as well as their associate, Ifeoma Maryjane Okoye, where large consignments of the Class A of the drug meant for export and local distribution were recovered.

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He said the 54-year-old Mr Agbakoba arrested on Ago Palace Way, Okota, while his 39-year-old wife, Ijeoma Chinwe, and 31-year-old associate, Ifeoma, who doubled as their stash keeper, were nabbed at Plot 2205, Eugene Ndubisi Close, Lilly Estate, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.

In Kano State, operatives on Wednesday, July 3, arrested a youth corps member, Yusuf Abdulrahman (25), at the Corpers Lodge, Sumaila LGA, with 1.250kg of Loud.

Two suspects, Monday Ali (49) and Jimoh Alewi (37), were arrested when operatives raided Ikota Forest in Ifedore LGA, Ondo State, where a total of 42,500kg of hemp was destroyed on 17 hectares.

In the FCT, operatives on Saturday, July 5, arrested the duo of Sanusi Mamman (28) and Usaini Ibrahim (20) on the Abaji-Gwagwalada road with 1,132 bottles of codeine syrup; 13, 540 pills of tramadol; 50,000 pills of diazepam and 59 pills of rohypnol.

In the same vein, operatives in Benue, on Thursday, July 4, intercepted a consignment of 350g of cocaine and arrested a 25-year-old man, Odeh Anthony, at a checkpoint on Enugu Road in Otukpo.