40-year-old queen of drug cartel, cross-border trafficker nabbed in Taraba, Adamawa

A 40-year-old queen of the drug cartel, Lami Mai Rigima, notorious for supplying psychoactive substances to traffickers in Taraba State, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) months after being on the agency’s watch list.

Rigima came under the anti-narcotic agency’s searchlight when a number of traffickers arrested in the state in 2021 and early this year identified her as their supplier.

The manhunt for the drug queen paid off on Monday, April 4, when narcotics operatives tracked her to her hideout in Iware village in Ardo Kola Local Council of Taraba State.

Spokesperson for NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said the search for Rigima began in October 2021 following the arrest, prosecution and conviction of a 50-year-old drug dealer, Abdullahi Madaki.

According to him, Madaki returned to the illicit trade with Rigima still his supplier, after serving his brief jail sentence.

He was however rearrested on February 13, while another trafficker, Jamilu Hassan, 20, who is also a member of Rigima’s supply chain, was nabbed on February 14.

IN Adamawa, NDLEA operatives also arrested a cross border drug trafficker, Emeka Okiru, 40, with 32,700 tablets of tramadol 225mg under the brand name; Royal and Tramaking.

Rigima

He was arrested at Garden city, Mubi in Mubi North Local Council on Tuesday, April 5, while preparing to supply his customers who came from the Republic of Cameroon.   The drugs were found concealed in cartons of paintbrush.

In Oyo State, different quantities of cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis were recovered from four suspects: Adetola Tosin; Akeem Kazeem; Korede Ahmed, and Abdulgafar Nureni, who were arrested in Omi-Adio, Ido Local Council; Oje area of Ibadan North Local Council; Iwo Road, Ibadan North East Local Council, and Sabo, Mokola, Ibadan North West Local Council, when operatives raided parts of the state on Tuesday, April 5.

At least, 172 kilogrammes of cannabis was recovered from two suspects: Zaidu Mohammed Kamba and Hussaini Dauda in the Kamba area of Kebbi State on Monday, April 4 by NDLEA operatives.

MEANWHILE, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has commended the officers and men of the Taraba, Adamawa, Kebbi and Oyo State Commands of the agency for their efforts.

He charged them and their compatriots in other commands across the country to sustain the tempo of offensive action against drug cartels in every part of Nigeria.