NDLEA arrests 10 ‘online drug traffickers’ in Abuja

 

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has arrested ten suspected online drug traffickers operating in Abuja.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday that the agency arrested the suspects following their undercover operation during the week.

Among those arrested was one Ese Patrick, who was accused of running an illicit drug business on Instagram.

Babafemi said the 28-year-old was picked up alongside her boyfriend as they brought deliveries for undercover NDLEA operatives who had ordered the drugs online.

He said the agency subsequently raided Patrick’s residence and “confiscated 400 grams of Arizona weed”, which she allegedly uses in baking the brownies.

Peter Nkejika, another suspect, was also apprehended on May 24 after his despatch rider was picked up with “N510,000 worth of Loud”, a highly psychoactive variant of cannabis.

Also apprehended was one Dolapo Benjamin, said to be the owner of five motorcycles allegedly used in distributing the drugs.

In Gwagwalada, the NDLEA said it seized drugs weighing 105.5 kilograms in a luxury bus and arrested three persons in connection with the illicit substance.

Meanwhile, Babafemi said the agency also confiscated drugs that were being transported to New Zealand and the United Arab Emirate in Lagos.

“The agency has 445 grams of Methamphetamine going to New Zealand and concealed inside USB chargers and hair attachments, with another 450 grams of cannabis Sativa going to UAE and concealed inside local soap containers at a courier company in Lagos,” he said.

- THECABLE

Governor Sani Bello out of Nigeria as bandits rule Niger state

 

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger is at present not in Nigeria as bandits increasingly turned his state into a playground.

The bandits latest acts were the attacks on several communities in Tegina, Wushishi and Batati.

The bandits capped their reign of impunity with the kidnapping of over 200 students of Tegina Islamiyya school on Sunday.

But in a shock disclosure, the chief press secretary to Governor Bello said the governor had left the country before the recent attacks on “a security mission”.

“The Gov who had left the country to explore all possibilities of strengthening the state’s security architecture before the incident happened, is expected back soon.

“He has, however, given directives to the security operatives and state govt officials to do all they can towards ensuring the safe return of the abducted Tegina Islamiyya children and others”.

Bandits on Sunday not only kidnapped the students of Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina, they also kidnapped some passengers of a Sharon Bus travelling to Minna.

Two persons were shot in the course of the mass abduction in Tegina, Rafi LGA.

One of them was confirmed dead, while the other person is critically injured.

“The State Govt is still gathering detail security report on the attack so as to take necessary measures to secure the release of those abducted”, the chief press secretary said on Twitter.

Niger state in central Nigeria has been, in recent times, been facing unrelenting attacks by bandits and terrorists, leading to displacement of thousands of people from their villages.

In February, 42 people were abducted for ransom in Kagara, among them 27 students.

- PM NEWS

Gulak: We don’t spill blood, assassination not part of our agenda – IPOB insists

 

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has insisted that it’s not a terrorist group and does not spill blood.

IPOB, while distancing itself from Gulak’s death, stressed that the assassination of politicians is not part of its agenda.

IPOB made the remark while insisting that it was not responsible for the murder of Ahmed Gulak, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Some gunmen murdered Gulak while on his way to Sam Mbakwe Airport in Owerri, Imo State, yesterday.

The Nigeria intelligence community had linked the Gulak’s killing to IPOB, but the state Police Command had refuted such claims.

Imo State Police Command spokesman, Bala Elkana, had said armed bandits murdered the former presidential aide.

However, Elkana later recanted his earlier remark, saying men of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, killed Gulak.

A Situation Report, SITREP, had confirmed that ESN operatives had waylaid and killed Gulak along the airport road at Obiangwu Junction at Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area.

Reacting, IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, distanced the secessionist group from the assassination.

A statement by Powerful reads: “The attention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the untenable allegation by the security agencies that IPOB was responsible for the assassination of former presidential aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak on his way to Sam Mbakwe Airport Owerri Imo State.

“We, therefore, state without equivocations that IPOB knows nothing about the said assassination. We had nothing in common with Gulak and could not have killed him.

“This is purely a smokescreen to justify their long awaited plan to declare another special military operation in the Eastern region to kill more innocent Biafrans.

“IPOB is not a terrorist organization and does not spill blood.

“For us, connecting with the assassination of Gulak is simply to pitch the East against the core Islamic North as a cover and justification for another round of pogrom against Easterners living in the North.

“We are only after the restoration of Biafra. Assassination of politicians is not part of our agenda.”

- PM NEWS