The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the arrest of six leaders from prominent cross-border drug trafficking syndicates suspected of supplying drugs to terror groups operating in Nigeria and Cameroon. According to the NDLEA, the operation led to the dismantling of two major trafficking networks, with seizures of cocaine and opioids worth billions of naira.

The syndicate leaders—identified as Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Udechukwu Anayo, Ezeh Amaechi Martin, and Adejumo Elijah Ishola—were arrested in various locations across the country following months of intelligence gathering and surveillance.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, revealed in a statement on Sunday that the arrests followed comprehensive intelligence operations. The statement read in part: “After months of intelligence gathering and painstaking surveillance, NDLEA operatives have dismantled two major cross-border drug trafficking networks, recovering cocaine and opioids valued at billions of naira and arresting six leaders of the cartels in different parts of the country.”

The syndicates, with operatives in Mubi (Adamawa State), Onitsha (Anambra State), and Lagos, as well as collaborators in Cameroon, were targeted after they were identified as primary suppliers to terrorist organizations. Babafemi further explained that psychoactive substances, including tramadol, were procured by Bawuro and Najib from Udechukwu in Onitsha. The drugs were then packed and concealed at Ezeh Amaechi Martin’s premises before being transported to Yola and other areas in the North and into Cameroon, using vehicles with hidden compartments.

"On October 7, 2024, Bawuro and Najib were tracked from Onitsha, where they had collected another drug shipment. They were apprehended in Taraba the following day with 276,500 tramadol pills in a Toyota Avensis, which they abandoned on the Jalingo-Yola expressway upon realizing they were being pursued by NDLEA operatives," the statement detailed.

Subsequent raids in Delta and Anambra states resulted in the arrests of Martin and Anayo by the NDLEA’s Directorate of Intelligence, which coordinated the operation across multiple states.

In a separate incident, on November 5, NDLEA operatives at Seme border in Lagos apprehended Adejumo Elijah Ishola, 37, with 3.3 kilograms of cocaine and 600 grams of synthetic cannabis. Ishola’s arrest followed extensive surveillance on his cross-border trafficking activities from Ghana.