Crime
Over 17,000 drug offenders, 10 drug barons arrested by NDLEA since Jan. 2021- Marwa
Over 17,000 drug offenders, 10 drug barons arrested by NDLEA since Jan. 2021- Marwa
By: Michael Mike
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested over 17,647 offenders including 10 drug barons between January 2021 and May 2022;
The agency has also been able to get more than 2,369 persons convicted and jailed within the same period while 154,667.339 kilogrammes drugs have been seized in the first five months of Year 2022.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday on the programme of activities for the 2022 United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd.) also disclosed that “in 2021, about 8,000 drug users were counselled and rehabilitated, in most cases through brief interventions. We continued the effort in the first five months of 2022, whereby an additional 3,523 were also counselled and treated in NDLEA facilities.”
Marwa who was appointed to head the anti-narcotics agency in January, last year, said: “This year’s theme for the UN Day has beamed the light on an area of the drug problem that has until recent years been on the backburner of the drug discourse.”
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He added that: “For us at the Agency, we are abreast of time and trends as shown by the priority accorded treatment and care.”
Marwa noted that: “While the world has been grappling with the illicit drugs conundrum for over three decades, changing dynamics in the decade have forced a paradigm shift and re-adjusted perspectives that allow for drug narratives to be seen as exacerbating factors in multidimensional situations.
“That has brought to the fore the imperative of looking at the drug problem through the lens of public health and also tackling such as a broader social problem rather than through the conventional, narrow, criminal matter approach.
It has, therefore, also become prudent to initiate mechanisms and measures that are proactively extenuating. In our case, the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2021-2025, launched last November, has incorporated components that tend to the health concerns of drug abuse.”
He disclosed that in order to help drug users suffering in silence, the agency will soon be unveiling the NDLEA Call Centre that will be manned by professionals and experts in counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry and more to offer help to drug users who will make use of the toll free lines to seek counselling 24/7, adding that this will also enable those afraid of stigmitisation to be able to seek help without necessarily being seen or identified by anyone.
Over 17,000 drug offenders, 10 drug barons arrested by NDLEA since Jan. 2021- Marwa
Bandits kill driver, abduct five passengers on Bagaga-Anka road
By: Zagazola Makama
Armed bandits attacked a Golf vehicle on the Bagaga-Anka road in Zamfara State on April 26, 2025, killing the driver and abducting five passengers.
Sources told Zagazola Makama that the attack occurred at about 11:40 a.m. when the bandits blocked the road, shot dead the driver, and abducted the five passengers traveling in the vehicle.
Upon receiving the distress report, joint security forces were swiftly mobilized and dispatched to the scene. The injured driver was taken to Bagega Primary Healthcare for treatment.
Efforts to rescue the abducted victims are ongoing, with security agencies intensifying their search for the perpetrators.
Bandits kill driver, abduct five passengers on Bagaga-Anka road
Police rescue 68 trafficking victims, arrest 16 suspects in Oyo State
By: Zagazola Makama
Police in Oyo State have rescued 68 victims of human trafficking and arrested 16 suspects, including 10 males and 6 females, following a raid on a hideout in Kajorepo community, Agabala Daniel Area.
Sources reliably informed Zagazola Makama that the operation, carried out on April 26, 2025, was based on credible intelligence from the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the State Intelligence Division (SID).
The rescued victims include 47 males, 20 females, and one child. They were found locked in a building where they were reportedly being held with the intent to be trafficked.
The suspects were taken into custody for interrogation, while the victims were provided with care and assistance. The building was sealed off, and patrol teams have been deployed to prevent any attempts by an angry mob to destroy the property.
The sources added that further investigations are ongoing to dismantle the trafficking network.
Police rescue 68 trafficking victims, arrest 16 suspects in Oyo State
Police smash kidnapping syndicate terrorising Taraba, neighbouring states
By: Zagazola Makama
The Taraba State Police Command, in collaboration with operatives of the Force Intelligence Department (FID) of the Force Headquarters Abuja, has arrested members of a notorious kidnap and banditry syndicate responsible for terrorising communities across Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe, Plateau, Bauchi, and Kaduna States.
Security sources told Zagazola
Makama that the breakthrough, according to the Command, was achieved following credible intelligence that was processed into actionable operations, leading to the arrest of key gang members on April 25.
The sources said that the operatives, working in conjunction with a local vigilante group, apprehended three suspects at about 10:00 a.m.
Those arrested were identified as Shehu Ibrahim, 27, of Larai Gada, Ilorin; Abdullahi Haruna, 28, of Angwan Karofi, Bauchi; and Yusuf Bello, 40, of Birama Village, Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State.
“Upon interrogation, the suspects confessed to their involvement in multiple kidnapping operations across the affected states,” the spokesperson said.
Items recovered from them include one AK-47 rifle, two AK-49 rifles, six AK magazines, and 45 live rounds of ammunition.
The police sources noted that the recent arrests follow earlier operations that led to the capture of other members of the same criminal gang.
Those earlier apprehended include Suleiman Mohammed, 28, of Lariski, Gombe State; Tijjani Bello, 30, of Nasarawo, Jalingo; Muhammed Umar, 25, of Sabon Gari, Jalingo; Adamu Ibrahim, 22, of Mutum Daya, Karim Lamido; Solomon Nathaniel, 32, of Logo, Benue State; and Haruna Adamu, 25, of Lushi Village, Lau, Taraba State.
From these earlier arrests, the police recovered three AK-47 rifles, one AK-49 rifle, and four AK-47 magazines.
He said that three suspects have confessed to several heinous crimes, including kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery, and attacks on rural communities.
He added that investigations are ongoing to apprehend the remaining members of the syndicate and dismantle the network completely.
Police smash kidnapping syndicate terrorising Taraba, neighbouring states
Police arrest two suspected informants to bandits in Kwara
Army troops rescue Deputy Commander of NDLEA officer, five others from kidnappers in Taraba
Rival gangs clash at wedding, one dead in Kontagora, Niger State
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