Tag: NDLEA

Drug War: Nigeria to host Heads of African drug law enforcement agencies in 2023

Aminu Imam

Nigeria has been elected to host the next conference of Heads of Drug Law Enforcement Agencies Africa, (HONLEA), in 2023. This was the unanimous decision of the regional network at the close of its 2022 annual meeting in Nairobi, Kenya at the weekend. The move by other heads of anti-narcotics agencies in Africa to have Nigeria host the 2023 conference followed the country’s good relationship with others on the continent and NDLEA’s exemplary performance in the renewed fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking. Meanwhile, the Chairman and Chief…

Read More

Drug barons assassinating NDLEA operatives – Marwa

Aminu Imam

Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Buba Marwa (Rtd) on Thursday said drug barons were assassinating operatives of the agency in the renewed fight against drug abuse in the country. Marwa said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee of Drugs and Narcotics to defend the agency’s 2022 budget performance and 2023 proposal. Against this background, he emphasised the need for the urgent provision of barracks for operatives of the agency. He said with the approval of the President, the NDLEA is…

Read More

NDLEA freezes N20bn in 103 bank accounts owned by ‘billionaire drug baron, Agency’s agent reveals

Aminu Imam

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seised N20bn stashed in 103 bank accounts belonging to Afam Ukatu, chairman of Mallinson group of companies. According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, a ‘Post No Debit’ order was made by the court on all his accounts in August 2022. Recall that the NDLEA apprehended Ukatu on a flight from Lagos to Abuja on April 13. He was arrested over an alleged N3 billion tramadol deal linked to the suspended deputy commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari. The agency secured an…

Read More

Nigeria world’s highest cannabis consumer, with over 10.6 million users – NDLEA

Aminu Imam

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has disclosed that Nigeria was the highest consumer of cannabis in the world in 2019, with over 10.6 million users. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), who made the disclosure at the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) 40th Annual Olumide Memorial Lecture in Abuja, explained that the figure is more than the entire population of Portugal or the United Arab Emirates, (UAE). He further stated that worse still, the country’s drug use prevalence of 14.4 percent…

Read More

NDLEA intercepts over N1bn worth of 2.4m Tramadol pills from Pakistan at Lagos airport

Aminu Imam

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted over 2, 465, 000 tablets of tramadol worth N1 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. The tramadol tablets in 225mg and 250mg, weighing 2,356kg, were reportedly being imported from Pakistan. The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in an issued statement yesterday, revealed that following credible intelligence, the Agency had shown interest in the consignment of 52 cartons that came into Nigeria from Karachi, Pakistan, with six different airway bills via an Ethiopian Airline flight, comprising seven cartons…

Read More

Lagos: NDLEA discovers N8.8bn worth of drugs in VGC mansion, impounds 13m Tramadol pills

Aminu Imam

…Arrests billionaire drug baron The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), has said it has uncovered a large consignment of drugs worth N8.86billion from one of the mansions of the Chairman of AutoNation Motors Ltd, Ugochukwu Nsofor Chukwukadibia, in a highbrow residential estate in Lekki area of Lagos.   The substances are contained in hundreds of cartons kept in a house in Victoria Garden City (VGC) estate, which is mostly occupied by the rich, located along the Lekki-Ajah corridor. In an issued statement released yesterday by the agency’s Director of Media,…

Read More

NDLEA destroys cocaine worth N195bn seized in Lagos warehouse

Aminu Imam

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), yesterday destroyed the 1.8 tons of cocaine seized in a Lagos warehouse on September 18. In an issued statement issued yesterday, the chairman of the agency, Mohammed Buba Marwa, said the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the burning of the seized drugs. Recall that the 1.8 tons of cocaine worth N194 billion were seized at a warehouse in Ikorodu, described by the NDLEA as the ‘biggest singular cocaine seizure in the history of Nigeria’s premier anti-narcotic agency’. The NDLEA chairman said that…

Read More

NDLEA uncovers cocaine warehouse, seizes N194bn worth of crack in Lagos

Aminu Imam

…Presumed biggest in agency’s history In what appears to be the biggest singular drugs seizure in the history of Nigeria’s premier anti-narcotic agency, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), have busted a major warehouse in a secluded estate in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. This was made known in an issued statement by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, yesterday. According to Babafemi, 1.8 tons (1,855 kilogrammes) of the illicit drug worth more than $278,250,000, which is about N194.775 billion in street value, were seized.…

Read More

Kaduna: NDLEA arrests 761 drugs suspects, seizes 11,000kg worth of drugs

Aminu Imam

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), says it has arrested 761 suspected drug traffickers and users and seized 11,000kg of illicit drugs in Kaduna State in the first eight months of the year. Its Commander in the State, Umar Adoro, told newsmen yesterday, in Kaduna, that 725 of those arrested are male, while the 36 others are female. He said 610 of the suspects were drug users, but that 480 of them were counselled, rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society, “We arraigned 151 of the suspects, secured the conviction…

Read More

Drug trafficking: NDLEA intercepts N4.5bn heroin concealed in baby food

Aminu Imam

…As ex-BRT driver excretes 90 pellets of cocaine Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), have intercepted 22 blocks of heroin weighing 23.55 kilogrammes concealed in packs of Nestle Cerelac baby food at the Lagos Airport. The consignment, with a street value of over N4.5 billion, came from Johannesburg, South Africa, on board a South African Airways flight last Wednesday, as part of a consolidated cargo that arrived at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport. After a series of follow-up operations that led to the arrest…

Read More