Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have made several high-profile arrests across the country in a sweeping crackdown on drug trafficking, with one of the suspects being a 41-year-old ex-convict and Malaysian returnee, Ndubuisi Udatu (also known as Richard).
Udatu was caught with 2.7kg of methamphetamine hidden in music speakers, intended for distribution in Adamawa State and neighboring Cameroon.
He was apprehended inside a commercial bus at an NDLEA checkpoint in Namtari, along Ngurore–Yola road, on Monday, April 7. Officers discovered two new music speakers concealing four parcels of methamphetamine, alongside a monetary exhibit of N22,300.
In a chilling admission, Udatu told investigators: “I returned to Nigeria to continue my illicit drug trade after serving out my jail term in Malaysia where I had been arrested, convicted, and sent to prison for drug trafficking offences.”
In a separate operation the same day, NDLEA officers working in collaboration with Customs personnel at the Nigeria-Cameroon border in Mfum, Cross River State, arrested 35-year-old trans-border trafficker Odoh Peter Ikechukwu. He was found in possession of 8,740 ampoules of assorted opioids weighing 395kg, including fentanyl, morphine sulphate, phenobarbital sulphate, pethidine, and midazolam injections.
The agency also recorded major seizures in Kano and Abuja. On April 11, 27-year-old Aliyu Ibrahim was arrested in the Bachirawa area of Kano with 20 ATM cards and 25,600 pills of Tramadol. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of 48-year-old Gambo Lawan at Wazobia motor park, Gwagwalada, after officers had intercepted 8,960 pills of Tramadol on the Gwagwalada expressway.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives recovered 124 kilograms of skunk—a potent cannabis strain—packaged in 11 jumbo bags from the boot of a Lexus car driven by 58-year-old suspect Ademiluyi Adedapo Collins along the Mokwa–Jebba road on April 11.
Alongside enforcement, the agency ramped up its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy efforts with sensitisation programs at schools, markets, and communities nationwide. These included lectures at New Era Secondary School, Anambra; Promise Land College, Lagos; Cherryfield College, FCT; and the Federal Polytechnic in Oyo State. In Kwara, the command paid an advocacy visit to the Oloro of Oro Kingdom, Oba Joel Olaniyi Oyatoye Titiloye Olufayo II.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the operations, praising the officers from Adamawa, Cross River, FCT, Kano, and Niger State Commands.
He urged continued vigilance, stating, “Officers must not rest on their oars but continue to raise the bar in their offensive action against drug cartels with an equal measure of drug demand reduction efforts.”
