The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has started the year with significant arrests and drug seizures across Nigeria, including the apprehension of a US-trained Nollywood filmmaker and a notorious Lagos drug kingpin.
According to a statement by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi on Sunday, operatives arrested Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe, a filmmaker and motivational speaker, at a hotel in Lekki, Lagos, on December 27, 2024.
The statement added that Mbadiwe’s arrest followed the earlier detention of his associate, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, Ikeja.
James was allegedly caught retrieving 33 parcels of Loud, a potent cannabis strain weighing 17.30 kilogrammes after the shipment had arrived at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) from the United States on December 24, 2024, concealed in wooden boxes.
In Kwara State on December 29, 2024, NDLEA arrested Khadijat Abdulraheem, 24, and Ayomide Morakinyo, 20, for producing and distributing drug-laced cupcakes in Ilorin. Authorities recovered 42 drugged cupcakes during a raid on their residence.
In Rivers State, on December 31, 2024, NDLEA, in collaboration with Customs, seized 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex. On the same day in Kano State, operatives raided the Mafarki area of Dala Local Government Area (LGA), recovering 149,090 pills of tramadol and exol-5.