ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the dismantling of two major cross-border drug trafficking syndicates and the arrest of six suspected drug kingpins connected to trafficking cocaine and opioids worth billions of naira.
According to the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the arrested individuals hail from Adamawa, Anambra, Lagos, and Cameroon, and their capture comes after months of intensive surveillance.
Babafemi explained that these syndicates had been under close watch, as they were identified as significant suppliers of drugs to terrorist groups operating within Nigeria and Cameroon.
“After months of intelligence gathering and painstaking surveillance, operatives of the NDLEA have dismantled two major cross-border drug trafficking syndicates, with cocaine and opioids worth billions of naira recovered.
Six leaders of the cartels were arrested in different parts of the country,” he stated.
The syndicate members were reportedly based in Mubi, Adamawa State; Onitsha, Anambra State; Lagos State; and areas of Cameroon.
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The agency’s attention was drawn to the group after detecting their suspected links to drug supplies reaching terrorist networks in the region.
Those arrested include Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Anayo, Ezeh Martin, and Adejumo Ishola.
“Intelligence gathered revealed that some psychoactive substances, including tramadol, were often sourced by Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib from a notorious drug dealer in Onitsha, Nelson Udechukwu Anayo, and were then packed and concealed in vehicles at the premises of Ezeh Amaechi Martin, an associate of Udechukwu,” Babafemi said.
Bawuro and Najib reportedly transported these drugs using vehicles equipped with hidden compartments to avoid detection. These vehicles would often travel from eastern Nigeria to the northern regions and into Cameroon, primarily during nighttime.
The operation that led to the arrests intensified on October 7, when NDLEA operatives began following Bawuro and Najib from Onitsha, where they had gone to pick up another shipment.
Their pursuit continued, and on October 8, they were apprehended in Taraba.
During the operation, NDLEA agents recovered a total of 276,500 tramadol pills from a Toyota Avensis, marked DKA 57 TT, abandoned by the suspects along the Jalingo-Yola expressway when they realized they were being pursued.
The NDLEA reiterated its commitment to fighting drug trafficking and dismantling networks that supply harmful substances to criminal and terrorist groups in the region.