Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 75-year-old grandfather, Uchelue Ikechukwu, and five others with illicit substances during raids in parts of Anambra State.

In a separate operation, a 30-year-old man, Alfa Andrew, was taken into custody after operatives destroyed 178,750 kilogrammes of skunk on his 71.5-hectare cannabis farm in the Mayodoga forest, Sardauna Local Council of Taraba State.

Uchelue was arrested in Umudioka, Dunukofia Local Council of Anambra with 26.7kg of skunk on Thursday, August 28, 2025. Others arrested in the state were Eneh Makuo, Emmanuel Chiemeli, Uwakwe Matthew, Chukwujekwu Ehirim, Ifeanyichukwu Olisa and Odoh Chukwuma, who were found with various quantities of opioids and skunk at Nkwelle and Amichi areas.

Additionally, Andrew was arrested with a Dane gun on Tuesday, August 26, when NDLEA operatives, supported by personnel of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Forest Security Service, Mambila Youth Vanguard and Vigilante, raided his cannabis farm in Mayosabere ward, Sardauna Council. The officers destroyed 178,750 kilogrammes of skunk during the raid.

In another development, about 104,900 capsules of tramadol concealed in the driver’s compartment of a fuel tanker were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja/Kaduna tollgate on Friday, August 29. A suspect, Hassan Buba, was arrested. Similarly, Kabir Sulaiman, 45, was apprehended with 34.150kg of skunk at the Gwargwaje-Zaria checkpoint on Saturday, August 30.

Following intelligence and surveillance, NDLEA operatives arrested a major supplier of illicit opioids in Borno State, 33-year-old Uchenna Umeh, shortly after he received supplies from Onitsha, Anambra. Recovered from his apartment in Chescon, Pompomary area of Maiduguri were 30,640 pills of tramadol 225mg, 7,940 tablets of rohypnol and N7.9 million in N200 new notes.

In Nasarawa State, NDLEA operatives arrested 36-year-old Abubakar Dauda with 79,040 pills of tramadol and diazepam at Abacha Park, Mararaba Karu, on Thursday, August 28. This was followed by the arrest of 47-year-old Babangida Tungura in Lafia with 30,410 pills of tramadol and rohypnol, as well as 38 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup concealed in a deep freezer from Asaba, Delta State, on Tuesday, August 26.
In Adamawa, 23-year-old Mohammed Ali was arrested during a follow-up operation in Ngorore on Wednesday, August 27, after his consignment of 15,000 capsules of tramadol concealed in sacks of animal feed was intercepted at the Gombe mega park.

In Kano, 20-year-old Ashiru Garba and 22-year-old Aminu Abdu were arrested on Tuesday, August 26, along the Kano-Hadeja road with 1.5kg of skunk and 25,000 pills of exol-5. Two others, Ali Muhammad, 37, and Muhammad Maishanu, 42, were apprehended on Thursday, August 28, along the Zaria-Kano road, Gadan Tamburawa, with 8,080 bottles of a new psychoactive substance and 25.7kg of skunk.

No fewer than 250,000 tablets of exol-5 were also seized from a 25-year-old suspect, Alhasaan Musa, in Zango, Ungogo Local Council, Kano, on Saturday, August 30.

In a related operation, NDLEA operatives arrested a suspect, Hamisu Abdullahi, in Yola, Adamawa, on Monday, August 25, in connection with an earlier seizure along Mararraba Lamurde. During that operation, a Golf saloon car marked GME 253 HP, driven by Sani Suleiman and coming from Gombe State, was intercepted. The vehicle, loaded with sacks of pepper, was found to be concealing 79 blocks of skunk weighing 58kg and allegedly belonging to Hamisu.

Photo NDLEA suspect. Caption: Suspect