Foreign currencies and a massive haul of cannabis worth millions of naira were seized at the weekend after operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested a wanted drug baron and businessman, Frank Ibemesi, widely known as Chisco Bee, during a dawn raid on his hotel in Lagos.
Ibemesi, 42, the MD/CEO of Franc CJ Ibemesi Nig. Ltd, was picked up in the early hours of Saturday, 15 November, at his Daisy Garden Hotel located on Ago Palace Way, Isolo. His arrest followed weeks of covert intelligence gathering and surveillance by the Agency’s Special Operations Unit.
According to the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, he was subsequently taken to his warehouse at Pius Ezeobi Street, also in the Isolo axis, where operatives recovered 42 jumbo bags and four cartons of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 1,762.8kg.
At the point of arrest, NDLEA officers also seized cash totalling $11,600, £2,000, €2,200 and 50 Canadian dollars.
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In a separate operation in Osun State, NDLEA operatives foiled attempts by a major drug syndicate operating within the Orita-Apeje, Araromi-Okeodo forest reserve in Ife South LGA to load and distribute 11,135 kilogrammes of processed skunk.
Two trucks used for the illicit operation were seized, while seven suspects, Lucky Abiodun, Julius Amos, Victor Ngbikili, Sunday Oduegwu, Ibrahim Akanni, Eze Godstime and Fred Ifeanyichukwu, were arrested.
Further interdictions in Edo State led to the recovery of 1,902.1kg of skunk across multiple locations, including Oza/Igbanke road in Orhionmwon LGA and Utese forest in Ovia North-East.
Meanwhile, two suspects, Felix Edah, 45, and Lucky Abagha, 51, were arrested in separate incidents involving Mercedes Benz vehicles loaded with illicit drugs.
Similarly, four men, Micheal Okoh, Offor Agada, Raphael Nkemjika and Nwabueze Franklin, were intercepted along the Ijebu-Ode expressway with 68kg of skunk and 3.150kg of methamphetamine.
In Taraba State, operatives arrested Danjuma Tukura, 50, with 172kg of skunk in Ardo Kola LGA, while 24-year-old Wisdom Titus was caught with 84kg in Takum.
In Adamawa, a significant pharmaceutical seizure saw officers recover 396,000 capsules of tramadol from a suspect, Ahmed Isyaku Nda, 50, at Yola Airport. Another 785kg of skunk was evacuated from the warehouse of a fleeing suspect in Maraba Karu, Nasarawa State.
The Lagos Command also recorded major breakthroughs, arresting Jamiu Kunle Kardoso and Oriyomi Waliu with 65.150kg of Canadian Loud in Surulere, while Taofeek Moraina was caught with 141kg of Ghana Loud.
Kwara State operatives, on their part, intercepted a truck conveying 197 blocks of skunk weighing 78.565kg and 155 cartons of rubber solutions along the Ilorin–Jebba expressway.
Driver Umar Yakubu is currently in custody. A commercial bus carrying 20 blocks of skunk concealed in a jerry can was also intercepted at Eiyenkonrin, leading to the arrest of Ibrahim Bello.
Meanwhile, NDLEA Commands across the federation sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation programmes in schools, workplaces, religious centres and communities, with outreach engagements recorded in Zamfara, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Enugu, Lagos and Ogun states.
Chairman Executive of the Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd), commended the officers for their diligence and urged them to maintain the balanced approach underpinning the NDLEA’s ongoing drug control operations.
