NDLEA arrests 21-year-old boy with 32,490 pills of tramadol, 936 bottles of codeine in Benin-City

Stanley Ihedigbo

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have arrested a 21-year-old suspect, Kosisochukwu Ozigbo, in possession of 32,490 pills of tramadol 225mg, 200mg, and 100mg; 936 bottles of codeine-based syrup and various quantities of other opioids in Benin-City.

According to the Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, Ozigbo, was arrested at new Lagos road Benin City, Edo State when the area was raided on Monday 23rd December by NDLEA operatives.

The agency also arrested a 48-year-old businessman, Orizu Ifeanyi Arthur, while attempting to board an Air France flight 844 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA Abuja, to Paris, France, for ingesting 74 wraps of heroin and cocaine.

Orizu was arrested at the boarding gate of the Abuja airport on Sunday, 22nd December 2024, during the outward clearance of passengers on Air France. When he was pulled aside for a body scan, he turned down the request, claiming his medical condition wouldn’t allow him.

He was thereafter taken into custody for excretion observation during which he excreted a total of 74 wraps of the Class A drugs over seven days.

In his statement, Orizu claimed he owns a shop at Balogun market, Lagos Island where he sells school and travelling bags, adding that he was promised 3,000 Euros upon successful delivery of the consignment in Paris.

He left his base in Lagos for the Abuja airport to connect his Air France flight to Paris, hoping to escape detection.

In another interdiction effort, operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA at 2:30am on Christmas Eve, Tuesday 24th December, intercepted two boats loaded with 1,960 kilograms of Ghanaian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, at the Eleko beach in the Lekki area of Lagos.

Six foreign nationals who brought the consignments from Ghana were arrested during the operation. They include two Ghanaians, Godsway John, 38, and Freedom Kelvin, 33, as well as four Beninese: Chegoun Hounsou, 23; Gadabor Nyameto, 47; Adantg Sasa, 34; and Ayao Kayivi, 21.

In Katsina, a suspect Ibrahim Shaibu, 35, was arrested in possession of 40 album-size parcels of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 35kg on Christmas day 25th December at Central Motor Park, Katsina, while another suspect Umar Ahmed, 47, was nabbed along Zaria-Malumfashi road, Katsina with 27 parcels of same psychoactive substance weighing 13.5kg on Saturday 28th December.

The Commands across the country balanced their drug supply reduction operations with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaigns in schools, markets, worship centers, and communities.

Some of these include: the WADA sensitisation lecture delivered by Lagos State Strategic Command in collaboration with Menitos Foundation to residents of the Akoka community at Ayetoro primary school, Akoka Bariga; while the Adamawa State command of NDLEA delivered the same lecture to members of Jama’atul Nasril Islam during their annual first aid group and leadership camping in Adamawa among others.
While commending the efforts of the officers and men of NAIA, Katsina, Edo, and Marine Commands of the Agency for a job well done in the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) tasked them and their compatriots nationwide not to rest on the achievements of 2024 but to continue to raise the bar in their offensive action against drug barons and cartels with an equal measure of WADA sensitization campaigns in the new year.