A 72-year-old grandma, Christy Ejaro, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Warri, Delta State, in connection with the sale of illicit drugs.
The elderly suspect was caught on Tuesday, June 24, with several sachets of skunk, a strain of cannabis, packaged in retail sizes at Niger CAT area of the city.
Ejaro’s arrest was part of a series of successful operations carried out by NDLEA operatives across different parts of the country and at international airports between June 24 and June 27.
In Lagos, the agency intercepted another suspect, 47-year-old Amen Okoro Godstime, a Europe-based freight and logistics businessman, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) on Friday, June 27. Okoro was allegedly attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg disguised as malaria drugs — Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem — to Spain.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, Okoro was arrested at the departure hall of Terminal 2 while boarding a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain via Casablanca.
He reportedly confessed that after arriving in Spain, he intended to travel by train to France, where he resides, and from there forward the consignment to Italy for sale.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, NDLEA officers on the same day arrested Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a 38-year-old bar attendant based in Maputo, Mozambique.
Emmanuel was arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when a search of his luggage revealed 17 cardboard-sized parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5 kilograms, and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilograms. The drugs were concealed within bedsheets in his bags.
In a separate operation at the same airport, NDLEA officials intercepted another passenger, 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar, who was travelling from Sao Paulo, Brazil. A search of his luggage led to the discovery of a plastic liquid soap container labelled “YPE,” which upon forensic analysis tested positive for liquid cocaine.
The recovered substance weighed 1.25 kilograms. Kpodar, a toy seller in Brazil, claimed he bought the substance while shopping for his wedding ceremony in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, NDLEA officers arrested 26-year-old Beninese national Vode Jean-Luck on Tuesday, June 24, for attempting to smuggle 69 balls of skunk with a gross weight of 29.5 kilograms from Benin Republic into Nigeria.
In Kwara State, operatives raided the base of a notorious drug dealer, Mary Bolanle Oladele, also known as “Iya Nafi,” on Wednesday, June 25. The raid, conducted in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area, led to the seizure of various quantities of skunk, tramadol, and flunitrazepam.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), has repeatedly vowed to intensify the agency’s clampdown on drug trafficking networks both locally and internationally. The latest arrests, spanning from airports to local communities, highlight the NDLEA’s continued efforts to curb the spread of illicit drugs in Nigeria.
