An 80-year-old man named Aremu Shojobi has been apprehended by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency with 14 kilograms of cannabis in his possession.
According to the agency, Shojobi confessed to engaging in the illicit drug trade for the past 25 years.
A statement released by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday revealed that the elderly man sourced the drugs from Benin Republic and sold them from his residence in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State.
Babafemi explained, “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.”
In a related development, Babafemi disclosed the seizure of a massive consignment of illicit drugs at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.
The operatives intercepted 25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid known to be three times stronger than tramadol, along with 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
The seizures were made on 17th and 20th September 2024, from three containers that had been flagged by the agency based on processed intelligence.
“Following the intelligence report, the NDLEA requested a 100% joint examination of the shipments with officers from the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies,” Babafemi stated. “The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of N13,725,000,000, while the codeine consignment is valued at N2,450,000,000, bringing the total worth of the intercepted drugs to N14,950,000,000.”
He elaborated that the tapentadol consignment, contained in 500 cartons, was found in one of the containers on Tuesday, 17th September.
Another container examined the same day held 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine, packed in 875 cartons, while the third container examined on Friday, 20th September, contained 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine.
In a separate incident, NDLEA operatives in Lagos, on 18th September, raided the residences of community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, recovering a total of 226 kg of cannabis from his two wives and son.
Although Alhaji Talba remains at large, searches of his houses in the Ashipa and Aketegbo areas 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 his son, Sadat Bashiru, aged 22. An additional 302 compressed blocks weighing 168.6 kg were found at the second location with his second wife, Hauwa Bashir, aged 42.
Babafemi further reported that on Monday, 16th September, 720 blocks of Arizona, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 390 kg, were confiscated from a Mitsubishi delivery van marked MUS 720 XH in the Ojo area of Lagos.
The statement continued with the arrest of a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony, by NDLEA operatives at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, on 15th September.
The suspect, who was attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha, was found 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,” Babafemi detailed.
The NDLEA also made significant seizures in Kogi State on 17th September, intercepting 700,000 pills of exol-5 en route from Lagos for distribution in Kano and Kaduna.
A suspect, Udemefuna Chibuike, aged 23, was arrested on Friday, 20th September, along the Mokwa-Jebba road in Niger State, with 49,000 tablets of tramadol, 20,000 tablets of diazepam, 100 ampoules of tramadol injection, and 50 bottles of cough syrup with codeine.
Further south, in Rivers State, NDLEA officers intercepted 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213 kg along Azikiwe Road, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday, 18th September, arresting a suspect, Ogochukwu Paul, aged 33, who was transporting the drugs to a notorious drug den in Borikiri.
Meanwhile, in Plateau State, operatives arrested a wanted suspect, Jonathan Ali Abuttur, aged 46, on Agingi-Rukuba Road, Bassa LGA, on Friday, 20th September. Abuttur was caught with 808 kg of cannabis sativa concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertiliser.
Babafemi added that in Kwara State, Shaibu Musa was nabbed with 28 kg of cannabis, underscoring the NDLEA’s continued efforts to curb the proliferation of illicit drugs across the country.
