By Nkechi Eze
A major breakthrough in Nigeria’s fight against illicit drug trafficking has been recorded as operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug baron, Frank Chijioke Ibemesi, famously known as Chisco Bee, recovering a large drug shipment and various foreign currencies from his Lagos hideout, alongside massive seizures of cannabis and tramadol in Osun, Lagos, Edo, Kwara, Taraba, Adamawa and Nasarawa states.
Director, Media & Advocacy of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed in an official signed statement that the 42-year-old suspect, who operates under the cover of a businessman and hotelier and is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Franc CJ Ibemesi Nig. Ltd, was arrested at his Daisy Garden Hotel located at 66–68 Agbeke Street, Ago Palace Way, Isolo, Lagos in the early hours of Saturday, 15 November 2025. Following his arrest, operatives led him to his warehouse at 7 Pius Ezeobi Street off Ago Palace Way, Isolo, where they recovered 42 jumbo bags and four cartons of Loud, a high-grade strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 1,762.8 kilograms.
Also seized from him at the point of arrest were $11,600 US dollars, 2,000 British Pounds, 2,200 Euros and 50 Canadian dollars, all in cash believed to be proceeds from his illicit drug operations.
In a separate major operation, NDLEA operatives thwarted an attempt by a drug syndicate operating in the Orita-Apeje, Araromi-Okeodo forest reserve in Ife South Local Government Area of Osun State to load and distribute processed skunk weighing 11,135 kilograms. The interception on Tuesday, 11 November, followed days of surveillance. Two trucks a Volvo truck marked WWR 29 XA and a Mercedes truck with registration number AWK 713 YZ, were seized during the operation, and seven suspects were arrested. Those currently in custody are Lucky Abiodun, Julius Amos, Victor Ngbikili, Sunday Oduegwu, Ibrahim Akanni, Eze Godstime and Fred Ifeanyichukwu.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives recovered a total of 1,902.1 kilograms of skunk in different locations across Edo State. Among the recoveries were 184.1 kilograms found along a bush path on Oza/Igbanke Road, Igbanke, in Orhionmwon LGA on Thursday, 13 November, and 672 kilograms evacuated from the Utese forest in Ovia North East Local Government Area on Friday, 14 November. On the same day, 494 kilograms were recovered from a Mercedes Benz car marked DE311BEN along the Benin–Akure Road, where a suspect, Felix Edah, 45, was arrested. Another suspect, Lucky Abagha, 51, was also arrested while conveying 552 kilograms of skunk in a Mercedes Benz car marked JJJ 56 JW.
In Ogun State, four suspects Micheal Okoh, Offor Agada, Raphael Nkemjika and Nwabueze Franklin were arrested along the Ijebu-Ode expressway with 68 kilograms of skunk and 3.150 kilograms of methamphetamine. In Taraba State, Danjuma Tukura, 50, was arrested with 172 kilograms of skunk at Sunkani in Ardo-Kola Local Government Area on Friday, 14 November, while Wisdom Titus, 24, was arrested with 84 kilograms of the same substance in Takum.
Further operations in Adamawa State led to the recovery of 396,000 capsules of tramadol from a 50-year-old suspect, Ahmed Isyaku Nda, at the Aliyu Mustapha International Airport in Yola on Friday, 14 November. In Nasarawa State, 785 kilograms of skunk were evacuated from the warehouse of a drug dealer currently at large at Asob Maraba Karu.
Lagos State also recorded significant seizures as two suspects, Jamiu Kunle Kardoso and Oriyomi Waliu, were arrested on Friday, 14 November, with 130 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 65.150 kilograms in Surulere. On the same day, Taofeek Moraina was arrested with 282 blocks of Ghana Loud with a gross weight of 141 kilograms at Otto, Oyingbo.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a truck marked T-0262KT along the Ilorin–Jebba expressway on Thursday, 13 November. The truck, driven by Umar Yakubu, was conveying 197 blocks of skunk weighing 78.565 kilograms and 155 cartons of rubber solutions. Another operation in the state led to the interception of a commercial bus with registration number KJA-657CY at Eiyenkorin, Ilorin on Wednesday, 12 November, where 20 blocks of skunk concealed in a 50-litre jerry can were recovered and the driver, Ibrahim Bello, was arrested.
Meanwhile, NDLEA Commands and formations across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities. The sensitization campaigns held in Government Day Secondary School, Birnin Ruwa Gusau, Zamfara; Holy Ghost Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Government Science Technical School, Ringim, Jigawa; City Girls Secondary School, Enugu; Randle Junior Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos; and Anglican Girls Grammar School, Obalende, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, among others.
While commending officers and men of the Special Operations Unit, as well as those of Osun, Lagos, Edo, Ogun, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa and Kwara Commands for their successful arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to sustain the ongoing balanced and coordinated approach to the Agency’s drug control efforts.
