Three sexagenarian grandfathers and a Nigerien were among those that top the list of suspects arrested in connection with the seizure of over 52.252 kilograms of cocaine, methamphetamine and skunk as well as 32,590 pills of opioids in Lagos, Kwara, Plateau, Sokoto and two courier companies by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

A suspect, Onyebi Benjamin who frequents Cameroun, Ethiopia, Uganda and has been on NDLEAs watch list was on Saturday February 18, arrested at Victory Estate, Iba, Ojo area of Lagos State in connection with the seizure of a 19.70kgs cocaine abandoned on an Ethiopian airline flight that arrived Lagos airport on Thursday February 9.

In a statement yesterday, the agency's spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babafemi said Benjamin had travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to pick the consignment, which he claimed was handed over to him in a black backpack bag on the plane in Addis Ababa, but failed to disembark with it on arrival in Lagos.

While the Agency continues to investigate the flight crew members, relevant intelligence and investigative tools were deployed to identify the passenger who brought the consignment to Nigeria as a result of which Benjamin was eventually unraveled and traced to Victory Estate, Iba where he was arrested.

The two other sexagenarians arrested in connection with drug trafficking include Butven Siman, 62, who was nabbed with 5.5kgs skunk on Friday, February 17, at Timbol village, Langtang South Local Government Area, Plateau State, as well as 65-year-old Musa Shuaib who was arrested with a kilogram of cannabis on Thursday February, 23, in Adewole area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

“In Sokoto state, NDLEA operatives at the Illela land border on Tuesday February, 21 intercepted a Nigerien, Bashar Abdu of Kwanni, Niger Republic with 1.460kgs of skunk wrapped round his private part, while in Kaduna, a suspect, Mohammed Garba (a.k.a Alfazazi), was arrested with 6,390 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, weighing 3.4kgs on Thursday 23rd along Abuja- Kaduna express road.”

In the same vein, operatives on Thursday February 23, intercepted an intending passenger on Turkish Airline flight to Torino via Milan, Italy at the Departure Hall of the Lagos Airport, Obazee Timothy Eguagie, with various quantities of opioids.

The consignment consisting a total of 22, 840 tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 10.60 kg; 1000 tablets of Tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 600 grams; 2, 300 capsules of Tramadol 100mg, weighing 800 grams and 60 tablets of Rohypnol 1mg, weighing 19 grams were concealed inside cloths and wrapped with black tapes