The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 75-year-old man and two brothers in separate anti-drug operations across Nigeria, as part of its ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking.
The Abugu brothers—John, 43, and Kenneth, 31—were apprehended on Thursday, April 3, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos while attempting to board a flight to India.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said the brothers were found with five kilograms of cocaine hidden inside the walls of their suitcases.
Although they claimed to be traveling for medical treatment, officials said they were acting on credible intelligence.
On the same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a 20-year-old Ghanaian-British national, Parker Darren Hazekia Osei, with 36 parcels of Loud, a strong variant of cannabis, weighing 19.4 kilograms.
The suspect, a computer science student at East London University, reportedly arrived from Bangkok via Ethiopian Airlines and admitted to transporting the drugs for delivery in Nigeria.
In Abia State, NDLEA operatives arrested 75-year-old Nna Felix during a raid in Umunteke Asa, Ukwa West LGA, with 1.6 kilograms of skunk, another strain of cannabis.
In a separate operation in Aba, 21-year-old David Chinemerem was caught with 2,050 ampoules of pentazocine.
Further operations led to arrests and seizures across several states:
In Kogi, 33-year-old Ngozi Ogili was caught transporting 3 kilograms of methamphetamine along the Okene-Lokoja highway, with additional drugs including Loud and Colorado recovered later.
In Yobe, Abdullahi Adamu was arrested with 381 bottles of codeine syrup and 108 tramadol tablets on the Potiskum-Damaturu road.
In Anambra, multiple suspects, including Obinna Sunday and Ugochukwu Ojalanonye, were arrested with 195,000 tramadol pills, 4.2 kilograms of codeine syrup, and 5.4 kilograms of pentazocine.
In Abuja’s Wuse market, 51-year-old Sunday Ayogu was arrested with 25 kilograms of skunk and nearly 100 grams of methamphetamine.
Meanwhile, a raid supported by the Nigerian Army in Esuk-Odot, Cross River State, led to the arrest of two women—Faith Etim, 64, and Victoria Asuquo Etim, 40—and the destruction of over 100 hectares of cannabis plantations, totaling about 250,000 kilograms.