NDLEA arrests 80-year-old grandpa with drugs, intercepts N14.9bn opioids

An 80-year-old grandfather, Aremu Shojobi, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency with 14 kilogrammes of cannabis.

According to the agency, Shojobi confessed to selling illicit drugs for the past 25 years.

A statement on Sunday from the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, stated that the suspect obtained the drugs from Benin Republic.

Babafemi said, “Operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the agency arrested an 80-year-old grandfather, Pa Aremu Shojobi, with 14 kilograms of cannabis at his home in the Iyana Ipaja area of the state on Friday, 20th September. In his statement, the octogenarian claimed he had been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years. He further claimed he sourced his supplies from Benin Republic and sold to his customers from his residence between 7 am and 10 pm every day.”

Babafemi also reported that a total of 25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol, and 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.

He added that the seizures were made on 17th and 20th September 2024, from three containers that had been on the agency’s watchlist following processed intelligence.

“As a result, the NDLEA requested a 100% joint examination of the shipments with officers from the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies. The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of N13,725,000,000, while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of N2,450,000,000, bringing the total value of the seizures to N14,950,000,000.

“The tapentadol consignment, packed in 500 cartons, was discovered in one of the containers on Tuesday, 17th September, while another container examined the same day contained 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine packed in 875 cartons. The third container, containing 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine, was examined on Friday, 20th September,” the statement added.

Similarly, Babafemi reported that NDLEA operatives in Lagos, on 18th September, raided the homes of community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, where a total of 226 kg of cannabis was recovered from his two wives and son.

He noted that although Alhaji Talba is currently at large, a search of his house in the Ashipa area of Seme Badagry led to the recovery of 93 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 57.6 kg from his first wife, Asma’u Bashiru, aged 35, and son, Sadat Bashiru, aged 22. Another search of his house in the Aketegbo area of Seme Badagry resulted in the seizure of 302 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 168.6 kg from his second wife, Hauwa Bashir, aged 42.

“No less than 720 blocks of Arizona, a strain of cannabis weighing 390 kg, were also recovered from a Mitsubishi delivery van marked MUS 720 XH in the Ojo area of Lagos on Monday, 16th September,” he added.

At Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Babafemi stated that NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony, on 15th September while attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach.

“After three days of observation, Okafor excreted the 76 pellets of ingested cocaine, weighing 1.267 kg. In Kogi State, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on Tuesday, 17th September, recovered 700,000 pills of exol-5 coming from Lagos for distribution in Kano and Kaduna. A suspect, Udemefuna Chibuike, aged 23, was arrested by operatives on Friday, 20th September, along Mokwa-Jebba road, Niger State, in possession of 49,000 tablets of tramadol, 20,000 tablets of diazepam, 100 ampoules of tramadol injection, and 50 bottles of cough syrup with codeine,” Babafemi added.

The statement continued, “A total of 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213 kg were intercepted along Azikiwe Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday, 18th September, by NDLEA officers who apprehended a suspect, Ogochukwu Paul, aged 33, conveying the consignment to a notorious drug haven in Borikiri.

“Meanwhile, operatives in Plateau State on Friday, 20th September, arrested a wanted suspect, Jonathan Ali Abuttur, aged 46, on Agingi-Rukuba Road, Bassa LGA, in possession of 808 kg of cannabis sativa concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertiliser. Their counterparts in Kwara also nabbed Shaibu Musa with 28 kg of the same psychoactive substance.”