At 80, back in crime: NDLEA arrests ex-convict over mannequin drug haul

Stanley Ihedigbo

An 80-year-old ex-convict, Jeremiah Isaiah Nkanta, has fallen back into the hands of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) just three years after completing a two-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.

According to the Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, Nkanta—who is notorious for involvement in the illicit drug trade—was first arrested by the agency on December 14, 2022, prosecuted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Unwilling to abandon his old ways, Nkanta reportedly returned to the drug trade. Acting on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, January 10, 2025, tracked the octogenarian to his Mmanta–Abak village in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, where he was arrested with 5.7 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, recovered from his residence.

In another successful interdiction in Akwa Ibom State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Oron–Ibaka Road in Oron LGA on Friday, January 9, intercepted a 37-year-old businessman, Ani Onyebuchi Romans, who was travelling with full-body mannequins meant for his clothing business in Cameroon. A search of the mannequins revealed that they were stuffed with tramadol pills weighing 5.3 kilograms.

The suspect, who claimed to reside in Cameroon, was reportedly returning to his base after the Christmas and New Year holidays when he was apprehended. Investigations revealed that he purchased the drugs in Onitsha, Anambra State, and was trafficking them to Cameroon for sale, using two mannequins to conceal the opioids.

In Oyo State, raids across various locations led to the arrest of notorious drug dealers and the seizure of dangerous illicit substances. Among those arrested was 45-year-old Remi Bamidele, alias “Aluko the Mafia,” at Sasa, Ibadan, where a total of 10.696 kilograms of Colorado, Scottish Loud, Ghana Loud, Canadian Loud and skunk—all strains of cannabis—were recovered. Two vehicles, a Toyota Venza and a Toyota Yaris with registration number HG 06 LYD, were also seized from him during his arrest on Thursday, January 8.
At the Adegbayi area of Ibadan, NDLEA officers on Friday, January 9, arrested 27-year-old Adeola Toheeb with various quantities of Colorado, Ghana Loud and skunk. Similarly, Habeeb Ali, 29, was arrested at Ring Road, Ibadan, with 1.264 kilograms of Colorado, Scottish Loud and skunk. A cash exhibit of ₦1,307,100 was also recovered from him at the time of his arrest on Saturday, January 10.

In Edo State, a dispatch rider, Osagbovo Edigin, 30, alongside two other suspects—Ebimi Labo, 28, and Akhimie Success, 25—were arrested on Friday, January 9, at Ihama/Airport Road GRA, Benin City, in connection with the seizure of 118 grams of Canadian Loud and a wrap of Colorado.
Also in the state, Jimoh Agbonmhegbe, 49, was arrested at Irrua with 17.552 kilograms of Colorado, Loud and skunk, while another suspect, Evelyn Okoyomon, 38, was nabbed at Ubiaja with 930 grams of skunk on Wednesday, January 7.

In Niger State, no fewer than 4,000 pills of tramadol (225mg) were recovered from a 22-year-old suspect, Nazifi Umar, at Dakwa town in Tafa LGA. Meanwhile, in Taraba State, Yusuf Usman, 41, was arrested with 100 blocks of skunk weighing 47 kilograms at Lankaviri, Yorro LGA, on Wednesday, January 7.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives recovered 30,950 capsules of tramadol from the residence of a suspect, Ugwoke Chibueze, 40, in the Bachure area of Yola South LGA, following his arrest at the Lamido Aliyu Mustapha International Airport, Yola, on Tuesday, January 6.
Meanwhile, commands and formations of the agency across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities over the past week.

These included lectures at Government Day Science and Technical College, Babura, Jigawa State; Abiayubal Ansari Islamiyya School, Layin Indo Mai Tuwan Tara, Fagge LGA, Kano State; and outreach programmes for youths of Oshituma Umuogudu Akpu Ngbo, Ebonyi State, among others.

Commending officers and men of the Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, Edo, Oyo and Niger Commands for their efforts, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described their operational successes as commendable, noting that the agency’s balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction continues to yield positive results nationwide.