An 80-year-old woman, Mrs. Mary Adebayo, her 19-year-old granddaughter, Funmilola Adebayo and two other women have been arrested in Akure, the Ondo State capital by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said on Monday.
He said the grandma and three other suspects, all females, were arrested for allegedly selling assorted illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, tramadol, swinol and skuchies.
Following intelligence-based raids and follow up operations on their locations on Sunday 2nd May, 2021, Babafemi said over 192kilogrammes of cocaine and other psychoactive substances were recovered from the suspects.
Sequel to the arrest, Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) has directed the acting Commander, Ondo state command of the agency, Callys Alumona, to launch a manhunt for other members of the drug cartel said to be on the run.
The grandma and her granddaughter were arrested at 6:30am on Sunday at Ayeyemi Street, Akure South Local Government Area of the state, during which 149kg Skuchies, 11grammes of cocaine, 17grammes of methamphetamine, 3grammes of heroin, 4.914kg of cannabis sativa; 8grammes of swinol and 49grammes of tramadol, were allegedly recovered from them. Also recovered were two deep freezers and a TVS motorcycle.
Babafemi said at about 1:30pm on the same day, a raid carried out at Rate Hotel, Care Street, in Akure South Local Government Area led to the arrest of 25-year-old Tessy Mathew from whom 33kilogrammes of skuchies were also recovered.
Preliminary interrogation and a follow-up operation after her arrest was said to have led to the arrest of 25-year-old Blessing Adesida in Oshinle area of Akure South and alleged recovery of 3kg of skuchies and 7grammes of cannabis.
According to the acting commander of the agency in the state, Callys Alumona, other members of the two drug cartels have been placed on watch-list and efforts to arrest them were ongoing.
In a related development, operatives of the Adamawa command of the NDLEA have arrested a 58-year-old Victor Chinedu Anwanya, and 47-year-old Femi Abiodun, with 80 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 76kilogrammes, concealed in three white sacks tucked in the booth of a Toyota Avalon car with registration number: LAGOS DC 997 FST.
According to the state Commander of NDLEA, Idris Bello, the suspects were arrested on Monday May 3, at about 6am at Mayo Belwa town, Mayo Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
“They took off from Auchi in Edo State. Also recovered from them was a fake Police Warrant Card bearing the name of Chinedu Anwanya with the rank of a DSP, the Commander of Narcotics”, Bello said.
Reacting on the development, Gen. Marwa commended officers and men of the Ondo and Adamawa State commands of the agency for their vigilance and commitment to work.
He charged them and their counterparts in other Commands to continue the nationwide offensive action against the illicit trade. “I recognise and commend the great work our officers and men in Ondo and Adamawa states have done in these operations. However, I still want to encourage them and their counterparts across the country that we must raise the ante in fighting drug criminalities in Nigeria.
“We must now go beyond seizures and arrests, and dismantle the cartels because there are cartels behind each of the drugs, be it cocaine, heroin, tramadol or cannabis, there are cartels behind each of these drugs and we must identify them and rein them in, that is the next phase of this war as we continue with our maxim of offensive action”.
