NDLEA arrests 3 women, others with meth, hemp

…Declares Abuja drug lord, Ibrahim Bendel, wanted The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 60-year-old woman, Mrs Sandra Esther Ibinosun, a pregnant woman, among several others, during operations in which 5,527.15kg of methamphetamine (meth) and Indian hemp, 132,090 tablets of tramadol and 2,000 bottles of codeine were recovered across five states and […]

• …Declares Abuja drug lord, Ibrahim Bendel, wanted

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 60-year-old woman, Mrs Sandra Esther Ibinosun, a pregnant woman, among several others, during operations in which 5,527.15kg of methamphetamine (meth) and Indian hemp, 132,090 tablets of tramadol and 2,000 bottles of codeine were recovered across five states and the FCT last week.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, explained that Mrs Ibinosun was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State, in a follow up operation following the seizure of 5.5kg hemp imported from South Africa, which she claimed was sent to her by her daughter at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

He also said that NDLEA operatives on Saturday, November 26, intercepted 1.4kg of meth concealed inside custard tins packed among cosmetics and foodstuff going to Brazil via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.

He explained that, “A cargo agent, Salako Omolara Fausat, who brought the bag containing the illicit drug to the airport, and an intending passenger to Brazil, Anyanwu Christian, who was to travel with the consignment, were arrested.

“Another attempt by a freight agent, Adebisi Aina Hafsat, to export 3,000 tablets of tramadol concealed in motor spare parts to Banjul, Gambia, was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and arrested her on Monday, November 28, while a follow up operation at the Ebute-Meta area of Lagos the following day, led to the arrest of the actual owner, Afam Chibuke Stanley, who is a spare parts seller.

“This was followed by the seizure of 100,000 tablets of tramadol with a gross weight of 68.90kg imported from Karachi, Pakistan, on an Ethiopian Airlines.

In Abuja, Babafemi said operatives stormed the warehouse of a drug lord and convict, Ibrahim Momoh, alias Ibrahim Bendel, who escaped from prison custody and returned to his criminal trade and recovered 81 bags of hemp weighing 1,278kg.

He said although Bendel escaped, his warehouse keeper, 55-year-old Ghanaian, Richard Forson Gordon, was arrested.

Ibrahim Momoh was first arrested on 27th November, 2014 with the same substance weighing 385.1kgs, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on 22nd of April, 2020 but escaped from jail after three months.

In Rivers State, he said operatives on Saturday, December 3, arrested a 29-year-old pregnant woman, Kate Ibinabo, with 34.4kg of hemp at the Okrika area, but that the Chairman of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), directed that she be granted administrative bail pending when she delivered of her baby and thereafter prosecute her.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 2,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were seized in a commercial bus by operatives on Friday, December 2, on the Lokoja-Abuja highway.

In Ondo State, 241 bags of a psychoactive substance with a gross weight of 3,133kg were recovered from a building at Ilale Cashew, Ehinogb, on Tuesday, November 29.

At the Mushin area of Lagos, 507.9kg of hemp was seized during a raid of on Thursday, December 1.

In Cross River State, 53 bags of C/S weighing 567.05kg were seized from three suspects: Bassey Boniface Eyibio (38), Effiong Akiba Etim (30) and Ngbong Raymond (45), at Mpara Junction in Odukpani LGA on Thursday, December 1.

Operatives equally arrested one Ali Mohammed on the Potiskum-Damaturu highway after they found 29,090 tablets of tramadol in his Honda car from Gombe State.