An 80-year-old woman, Mrs Mary Adebayo, her 19-year-old granddaughter, Funmilola Adebayo and two other ladies have been arrested in Akure, Ondo State by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), for allegedly selling assorted illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, tramadol, swinol and skuchies.
They were apprehended following intelligence-based raids and follow up operations on their locations on Sunday, 2 May 2021, where over 192kgs of cocaine and other psychoactive substances were recovered.
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The two other ladies arrested are Tessy Matthew and Blessing Adesida.
Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said on Wednesday in Abuja that due to the bust, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), had directed the acting Commander, Ondo State Command of the agency, Callys Alumona, to launch a manhunt for other members of the drug cartel now on the run.
According to him, the grandma and her granddaughter were arrested at 6:30 am on Sunday at Ayeyemi Street, Akure South Local Government Area.
“During the early morning raid, the following were recovered from them: Skuchies- 149kg, cocaine-11grammes, methamphetamine-17grammes, heroin-3grammes, cannabis Sativa- 4.914kg, swinol -8grammes and tramadol -49grammes.
“On the same date, at about 1:30 pm, a raid carried out at Rate Hotel, Care Street, in Akure South LGA led to the arrest of 25-year-old Tessy Mathew from whom 33kgs of skuchies were recovered.
“Following her preliminary interrogation, a follow-up operation was immediately carried out, leading to the arrest of 25-year-old Blessing Adesida in Oshinle area of Akure South LGA.
“Recovered from her include skuchies-3kg and cannabis-7grammes.
“According to the state’s acting commander of the agency, Callys Alumona, other members of the two drug cartels have been watchlisted and efforts to arrest them ongoing,” Babafemi said.
In a related development, operatives of the Adamawa Command of the NDLEA have arrested a 58-year-old Victor Chinedu Anwanya, and 47-year-old Femi Abiodun, with 80 blocks of compressed cannabis Sativa weighing 76kgs, concealed in three white sacks tucked in the booth of a Toyota Avalon car with registration number: LAGOS DC 997 FST.
According to the state Commander of NDLEA, Idris Bello, the suspects were arrested on Monday 3 May, 202 at about 6 am in Mayo Belwa town, Mayo Belwa LGA, Adamawa State.
“They took off from Auchi in Edo State. Also recovered from them was a fake Police Warrant Card bearing the name of Chinedu Anwanya with the rank of a DSP”, the Commander of Narcotics stated.
Marwa reacts
Reacting to the development, Marwa said, “I recognise and commend the great work our officers and men in Ondo and Adamawa states have done in these operations.
“However, I still want to encourage them and their counterparts across the country that we must raise the ante in fighting drug criminalities in Nigeria.
“We must now go beyond seizures and arrests, and dismantle the cartels because there are cartels behind each of the drugs, be it cocaine, heroin, tramadol or cannabis, there are cartels behind each of these drugs and we must identify them and rein them in, that is the next phase of this war as we continue with our maxim of offensive action.”
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