NDLEA Arrests Delta Drug Kingpin, Seizes N7.8bn Worth of Opioids

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a notorious drug kingpin, Sunday Ibigide, in Asaba, Delta State, after he allegedly attempted to move 250 blocks of skunk weighing 138kg in his distribution bus.

Ibigide, who had been on the run for over three years, was captured alongside his aide, Clement Osuya, on Sunday, August 10, 2025. The NDLEA said he had been wanted since March 19, 2022, following a previous seizure of 24.1kg of skunk and 10 grams of molly linked to him.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, confirmed the arrest and detailed several other high-profile operations across states that led to multiple arrests and massive drug seizures.

In Enugu State, six suspects were arrested during raids on cannabis farms spanning 15 hectares, where 37,500kg of skunk was destroyed. Additional seizures included 20,700 pills of tramadol and cocodamol, along with 27.6kg of skunk recovered from suspects in Nsukka and Enugu.

In Lagos, operatives arrested a 52-year-old woman, Muyibat Mumuni, and her son, Faruk, for storing 298 blocks of Ghana Loud weighing 149kg in Mushin. Another suspect was arrested in Ajah with 8.5kg of Canadian Loud.

In Gombe and Kogi, NDLEA intercepted a combined total of 465,800 capsules of tramadol from different suspects, while in Taraba, 11,250kg of skunk was destroyed and nearly 30,000 capsules of tramadol seized during raids supported by local security outfits.

Operations in Kaduna led to the arrest of four suspects over the seizure of tramadol, rohypnol, and 111kg of skunk, while in Onne Port, Rivers State, NDLEA and Customs officers intercepted five containers holding 875,000 bottles of codeine syrup valued at N6.1 billion and 3.5 million pills of benzhexol worth N1.7 billion.

Further seizures were recorded in Edo, Kano, and Lagos-Badagry highway, with arrests tied to hundreds of kilograms of skunk, 4,320 ampoules of ketamine, and other psychoactive substances.

NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), commended the operatives for their coordinated efforts and urged them to sustain the momentum in the agency’s war against drugs.