The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two elderly men, aged 84 and 75, for allegedly supplying illicit drugs to secondary school students in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, in a development that has raised fresh concerns over the growing threat of drug abuse among teenagers.
The suspects, identified as Godfrey Orji, 84, and Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, 75, were apprehended in separate operations following intelligence reports and investigations conducted by security agencies.
Both senior citizens’ arrests were confirmed on Sunday through a statement made available to newsmen by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
According to the NDLEA, Obiora was arrested on June 19 at his patent medicine store located on Club Road, Umuahia, after operatives acting on credible intelligence searched the premises and recovered 4.64 kilograms of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
The anti-drug agency alleged that the suspect had been selling the illicit substances to young students and other users in the area.
Orji, a pensioner, was arrested a day earlier after security personnel at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia, reportedly caught him supplying drugs to two teenage students on the school premises.
The school guards subsequently handed the suspect and the students over to the police, who later transferred the case to the NDLEA for further investigation.
One of the teenagers, a 15-year-old Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) student, reportedly told investigators that Orji regularly supplied him with drugs, which he consumed and also resold to fellow students.
The NDLEA said the two elderly suspects would be charged in court, while the affected students have been placed under counselling and rehabilitation programmes.
The arrests came amid a series of major anti-drug operations carried out by the agency across the country.
In Lagos, operatives intercepted a 9.5-kilogram consignment of ADB Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid classified as a dangerous new psychoactive substance, concealed in a shipment from China at a courier facility.
The agency also seized 300 grams of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, hidden inside ladies’ handbags at another logistics company in the state.
In a related operation, NDLEA officers raided the residence of a wanted drug dealer, Lukman Badmus, popularly known as “Lukman Ogombo,” in the Ogombo area of Ajah, where codeine syrup and skunk were recovered.
A follow-up raid at a shop linked to his wife, Aisha Saraki, on Lagos Island led to the seizure of additional narcotics and 42 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 22.5 kilograms.
According to the agency, an attempt by the suspect to dispose of some of the drugs during the operation was foiled by officers.
Elsewhere, a suspect travelling from Lagos to Abuja was arrested along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State with more than one kilogram of methamphetamine concealed in custard containers.
In Ekiti State, a couple wanted in connection with the seizure of 117 kilograms of skunk earlier in the year were arrested after months on the run.
The anti-narcotics agency also recorded major seizures in Oyo and Edo states, where over 1,400 kilograms of skunk and several cannabis farms were uncovered and destroyed during coordinated operations.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the successful operations and urged them to sustain the momentum in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.
Marwa noted that the agency would continue to combine aggressive drug supply reduction efforts with its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign aimed at educating young people and communities on the dangers of illicit substances.
The NDLEA said it remains committed to protecting Nigerian youths from drug abuse and dismantling networks that target vulnerable students and communities across the country.