THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an 80-year-old grandmother, Grace Ekpeme, and a Chinese businessman, Liang Tak You, for drug peddling.
In a statement by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, July 27, the duo were among those caught in a nationwide crackdown that uncovered synthetic cannabis, popularly known as colorado, hidden in ‘moimoi’ sachets, and Canadian loud concealed in imported canned food items.
According to Babafemi, Liang was apprehended on Friday at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State, after tracking him from his port of departure, allowing him to pass through immigration and other airport protocols before arresting him on his way out of the airport.
“The suspect, who arrived in Nigeria from Bangkok via Dubai on an Emirates Airlines flight, is a Chinese national, naturalised and based in Malaysia. He reportedly travelled to Thailand to pick up two suitcases containing 50 parcels of loud, weighing 26.10kg, before flying to Nigeria”, Babafemi said.
He further stated that in a separate operation, 80-year-old Ekpeme was arrested in the early hours of Saturday, July 26, at Edet-Nsa Street, Base Site, Calabar South, Cross River State, after intelligence linked her to drug trafficking.
Babafemi also explained that the operatives had intercepted another suspect, Chidi Agbafo, in Lagos, three days before arresting Ekpeme.
“Also in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, July 23, intercepted a suspect, Chidi Agbafo, along the Epe–Ajah Expressway while transporting consignments of 21.7kg of Colorado—some of which were packaged in moimoi cooking sachets—and 3.8 litres of codeine-based syrup in a commercial bus en route to Warri and Oghara in Delta State”
In 2024, The ICIR reported that the agency arrested 66,085 drug offenders and convicted 12,201 in 53 months.
The agency seized 1,143,717.44 kilogrammes of assorted illicit drugs and rehabilitated 26,393 drug addicts within the same period.
In the latest raid, Babafemi revealed that 101kg of Canadian loud was discovered hidden inside 202 factory-sealed tins of imported food labelled ‘Bean Salad Mix’ and concealed in two Toyota Sienna buses packed in a container that arrived from Canada at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos on Friday, July 25.
“On the Abuja-Kaduna highway, NDLEA operatives on patrol on Wednesday, July 23, “arrested one Usman Musa with 71,000 pills of opioids—including tramadol, diazepam, and Exol-5—while travelling in a commercial bus headed to Kano.
“In Borno State, a 30-year-old woman, Binta Usman, was arrested on the same day at her residence in the Muna Moforo area of Maiduguri, where 30.1kg of skunk was recovered. A follow-up operation on Friday, July 25, led to the arrest of her accomplice, Bala Abdullahi, in the same area,” he added.
The agency also disclosed that three brothers, Nanna, Chizom, and Maxwell Ozirinye, were arrested on Saturday, July 26, during a raid on a cannabis plantation located in Bending Corner Forest, Idoani, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Operatives of the NDLEA destroyed 2,500kg of skunk grown on a hectare of land and recovered 121.4kg of processed cannabis at the plantation.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.