Eric Patrick
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 41-year-old ex-convict and Malaysian returnee, Ndubuisi Udatu, also known as Richard, for attempting to smuggle methamphetamine concealed in music speakers.
Udatu was apprehended inside a commercial bus at an NDLEA checkpoint in Namtari, along Ngurore-Yola road in Adamawa State, on Monday, April 7.
This was contained in a statement by the agency’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.
According to the statement, the suspect was found in possession of two new music speakers used to conceal four large parcels of methamphetamine weighing 2.7 kilograms, alongside N22,300 in cash.
Udatu confessed to returning to Nigeria to resume drug trafficking after serving a jail term in Malaysia for similar offences.
In a similar operation, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with Nigeria Customs personnels intercepted another suspected trans-border drug trafficker, Odoh Peter Ikechukwu, at the Nigeria-Cameroon border in Mfum, Cross River State.
The 35 year old, was caught with 8,740 ampoules of assorted opioids, weighing 395kg, including fentanyl, morphine sulphate, phenobarbital sulphate, pethidine, and midazolam injections.
Similarly, in Kano, NDLEA operatives on Friday, April 11, arrested 27-year-old Aliyu Ibrahim at Bachirawa area with 20 ATM cards and 25,600 pills of tramadol (225mg and 250mg), while in a follow-up operation, 48-year-old Gambo Lawan was arrested at Wazobia motor park, Gwagwalada, Abuja, after officers had earlier seized 8,960 pills of tramadol during a routine check along the Gwagwalada expressway.
READ ALSO: Crystal Meth Found in Loudspeakers: NDLEA Nabs Ex-Convict Trafficker
The NDLEA commands across the country has intensified their “War Against Drug Abuse” (WADA) advocacy campaigns, with sennsitisation lectures were held at various schools, including New Era Secondary School, Nteje, Anambra; Promise Land College, Ikotun Egbe, Lagos; Cherryfield College, Jikwoyi, FCT; Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, Ogbomoso, Oyo State; and Nurul Faruq Islamic Academy, Gombi, Adamawa State.
The statement read in part, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a 41-year-old ex-convict and Malaysian returnee, Ndubuisi Udatu (aka Richard) with two giant music speakers used to conceal four large parcels of methamphetamine weighing 2.700kilograms for distribution in Yola and Mubi, Adamawa state, and across the border into Cameroon.
“Ndubuisi was arrested inside a commercial transport bus at an NDLEA check point at Namtari along Ngurore -Yola road, Adamawa on Monday 7th April 2025. He was found with two new music speakers used to conceal four packages of methamphetamine and monetary exhibit of N22,300. ‘In his statement, he claimed he returned to Nigeria to continue his illicit drug trade after serving out his jail term in Malaysia where he had been arrested, convicted and sent to prison for drug trafficking offences.
“In another interdiction exercise, NDLEA officers in a joint border operation with Customs personnel at the Nigeria/Cameroon border, Mfum, Cross River state arrested a trans-border drug trafficker, 35-year-old Odoh Peter Ikechukwu, with 8,740 ampoules of assorted opioids, weighing 395kg.
“They include: 1,080 ampoules of fentanyl injection, 2,160 ampoules of morphine sulphate injection, 3,010 ampoules of phenobarbital sulphate injection, 2,160 ampoules of pethidine injection, and 330 ampoules of midazolam injection.”
