Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 49-year-old man who allegedly impersonated a senior police officer to evade security checks while transporting illicit drugs across states.
The suspect, Innocent Ekpe, was arrested on Wednesday, September 16, along the Benin-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba, Delta State, with 292.48 kilogrammes of skunk concealed in his silver Toyota Sienna bus.
The NDLEA said investigations revealed that Ekpe had been parading himself as Godwin Emeka, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), using a forged police identification card to escape scrutiny at checkpoints while ferrying illicit consignments.
A 39-year-old accomplice, Nduka Joseph, was also arrested alongside him.
The arrests formed part of a series of intelligence-led operations across Lagos, Edo, Niger, Delta, Ondo, Gombe, Imo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which led to the interception of more than 1.3 million pills and capsules of tramadol and other opioids, as well as about 6,000 kilogrammes of cannabis, with a combined street value exceeding N3.4 billion.
NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement issued on Sunday, said the operations also led to the seizure of a large consignment of Canadian Loud at the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos.
The 603.75kg shipment, comprising 1,200 parcels of the potent cannabis strain, was valued at N1.81 billion.
The consignment arrived from Montreal, Canada, on September 12, in a 40-foot container containing two Toyota Sienna vehicles.
Babafemi said, acting on processed intelligence, NDLEA operatives placed the container under surveillance before conducting a joint physical examination with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies on Wednesday, September 16.
The search uncovered the drugs concealed in 31 black jumbo bags loaded inside the vehicles.
In another operation in Edo State, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence raided an auto-repair workshop on Agbor Road, Benin City, where they arrested 45-year-old Matthew Ossai.
The agency said Ossai allegedly used his workshop as a front for storing illicit drugs.
Recovered from the premises were 48kg of Canadian Loud, 152 grammes of methamphetamine and a metal box used to store the substances.
In Niger State, operatives on patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway at Chachi, Tafa Local Government Area, on Tuesday, September 15, arrested three young men identified as Bashir Usman, 20; Abubakar Nuhu, 18; and Abdulrahman Abdulwahab, 18.
The suspects were allegedly found with two locally fabricated AK-47 rifles and a magazine, a locally made pistol with a magazine, and nine rounds of 9mm ammunition concealed in a black travel bag.
Meanwhile, two suspects, Aminu Isyaku, 23, and Jamilu Habibu, 25, were arrested on Friday, September 18, along the Abaji-Abuja Highway.
The NDLEA said operatives recovered more than 1.1 million assorted tramadol tablets and capsules, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and Exol tablets concealed in eight sacks being transported from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Mararaba, Nasarawa State.
In Lagos, one Onyeka Ofor was arrested at his residence in Aguda, Surulere, on September 18, with 48,900 pills of tramadol 225mg.
The agency said it also intercepted seven cartons of cannabis sativa weighing 59kg at a logistics company, leading to the arrest of a suspect, Luke Ugokwe.