By Deborah Nnamdi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a wanted drug baron, Frank Chijioke Ibemesi, popularly known as Chisco Bee, following weeks of intelligence gathering and surveillance.
The arrest was disclosed on Sunday in a statement by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi. Ibemesi, 42, who doubles as a businessman and hotelier, was apprehended in the early hours of Saturday at his Daisy Garden Hotel located on Agbeke Street, Ago Palace Way, Isolo, Lagos.
According to the NDLEA, Ibemesi, said to be the MD/CEO of Franc CJ Ibemesi Nig. Ltd, later led operatives to his warehouse on Pius Ezeobi Street, Isolo, where 42 jumbo bags and four cartons of Loud—a potent strain of cannabis—were recovered. The consignment weighed 1,762.8 kilograms.
Cash recovered at the point of arrest included $11,600, £2,000, €2,200, and 50 Canadian dollars.
NDLEA operatives also thwarted a major drug syndicate’s attempt to distribute 11,135 kilograms of processed skunk from the Orita-Apeje, Araromi-Okeodo forest reserve in Ife South LGA of Osun State. The bust, carried out after days of surveillance, led to the seizure of two trucks and the arrest of seven suspects: Lucky Abiodun, Julius Amos, Victor Ngbikili, Sunday Oduegwu, Ibrahim Akanni, Eze Godstime, and Fred Ifeanyichukwu.
In Edo State, multiple coordinated operations led to the recovery of 1,902.1 kilograms of skunk. These included 184.1kg in Igbanke, 672kg in Utese forest, and 494kg from a Mercedes-Benz along the Benin-Akure road, where 45-year-old Felix Edah was arrested. Another suspect, Lucky Abagha, 51, was caught transporting 552kg in a separate Mercedes-Benz.
Four suspects—Micheal Okoh, Offor Agada, Raphael Nkemjika, and Nwabueze Franklin—were arrested in Ogun State with 68kg of skunk and 3.150kg of methamphetamine along the Ijebu-Ode expressway. In Taraba, 50-year-old Danjuma Tukura was caught with 172kg of skunk, while 24-year-old Wisdom Titus was found with 84kg in Takum.
At the Aliyu Mustapha International Airport, Yola, NDLEA officers in Adamawa recovered 396,000 capsules of tramadol from a suspect, Ahmed Isyaku Nda, 50. In Nasarawa State, 785kg of skunk was evacuated from a warehouse belonging to a fleeing drug dealer in Asob Maraba Karu.
Further arrests were made in Lagos, where two suspects—Jamiu Kunle Kardoso and Oriyomi Waliu—were found with 130 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 65.150kg in Surulere. Another suspect, Taofeek Moraina, was arrested with 282 blocks of Ghana Loud weighing 141kg in the Otto, Oyingbo area.
In Kwara State, operatives intercepted a truck on the Ilorin–Jebba expressway carrying 197 blocks of skunk weighing 78.565kg and 155 cartons of rubber solutions. The driver, Umar Yakubu, was detained. A separate operation in Ilorin led to the arrest of Ibrahim Bello after 20 blocks of skunk were discovered concealed in a 50-litre jerrycan inside a commercial bus.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended officers across the SOU, Osun, Lagos, Edo, Ogun, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, and Kwara Commands for the successful operations. He urged them to sustain the agency’s balanced and aggressive approach to drug control nationwide.
