April 13, (THEWILL) – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 41-year-old ex-convict and Malaysian returnee, Ndubuisi Udatu, also known as Richard, for attempting to smuggle methamphetamine concealed in music speakers into Adamawa State and neighbouring Cameroon.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was apprehended on Monday, April 7, 2025, at an NDLEA checkpoint in Namtari, along the Ngurore–Yola Road, while traveling in a commercial bus.
Upon interception, operatives discovered two new giant music speakers containing four parcels of methamphetamine weighing 2.7kg. The illicit consignment was reportedly intended for distribution in Yola, Mubi, and across the border into Cameroon. A sum of ₦22,300 was also recovered from the suspect as an exhibit.
Udatu, in his statement to the NDLEA, confessed that he had returned to Nigeria with the intention of resuming drug trafficking after serving a jail term in Malaysia for similar offences.
In a separate operation, NDLEA officers in collaboration with Nigeria Customs personnel arrested one Odoh Peter Ikechukwu, 35, at the Nigeria–Cameroon border in Mfum, Cross River State, for trafficking 8,740 ampoules of opioids weighing 395kg. The seized items included 1,080 ampoules of fentanyl injection, 2,160 ampoules of morphine sulphate, and 330 ampoules of midazolam injection.
Similarly, in Kano State, operatives arrested 27-year-old Aliyu Ibrahim on April 11 in the Bachirawa area with 25,600 pills of Tramadol (225mg and 250mg) and 20 ATM cards.
In the Federal Capital Territory, NDLEA officers apprehended 48-year-old Gambo Lawan at Wazobia Motor Park in Gwagwalada. Lawan was caught with a consignment of 8,960 Tramadol pills during a routine stop-and-search along the Gwagwalada Expressway on April 7.
Elsewhere in Niger State, a 58-year-old suspect, Ademiluyi Adedapo Collins, was intercepted on April 11 along the Mokwa–Jebba Road with 124 kilograms of skunk (a high-grade cannabis strain) hidden in a Lexus vehicle with registration number KTU 54 CU.
Meanwhile, the agency sustained its grassroots sensitisation efforts through its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign. The week under review saw advocacy visits and lectures held in schools, markets, worship centres and communities across the country.
Among the institutions engaged were New Era Secondary School, Nteje, Anambra; Promise Land College, Ikotun Egbe, Lagos; Cherryfield College, Jikwoyi, FCT; Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, Ogbomoso, Oyo State; and Nurul Faruq Islamic Academy, Gombi, Adamawa State. In Kwara State, the NDLEA Command paid an advocacy visit to the Oloro of Oro Kingdom, Oba Joel Olaniyi Oyatoye Titiloye Olufayo II.
Commending the agency’s operatives for their diligence and success across multiple operations, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), lauded the teams in Adamawa, Cross River, Kano, FCT, and Niger states for what he described as “outstanding and unwavering efforts in tackling the drug menace.”
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