The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested an 80 year old ex convict, Jeremiah Isaiah Nkanta, for allegedly returning to the illicit drug trade barely three years after his last conviction. He was picked up at his home in Mmanta Abak village, Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, where officers found 5.7 kilograms of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis.
Nkanta was first arrested by the NDLEA on December 14, 2022, prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison for dealing in drugs. The agency said intelligence reports indicated that he went back to selling narcotics after serving his sentence, prompting a fresh operation that led to his re arrest.
In a separate operation in Akwa Ibom, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Oron Ibaka road intercepted a 37 year old businessman, Ani Onyebuchi Romans, who was travelling with full body mannequins for his clothing business in Cameroun. A search revealed that the mannequins had been stuffed with tramadol pills weighing 5.3 kilograms, carefully concealed inside the hollow frames.
Romans, who claims to live in Cameroun, allegedly bought the opioids in Onitsha, Anambra State, and was taking them across the border to sell. The NDLEA said he was arrested while returning to his base after the Christmas and New Year holidays and will face prosecution for trafficking.
The agency also reported other arrests linked to the same sweep, including suspected dealers in Oyo, Edo and other states, alongside seizures of high grade cannabis and designer drug variants. Cash exhibits running into over one million naira were recovered from some suspects at the point of arrest.
NDLEA Chairman Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd) praised the officers involved and warned that age, status or cover stories will not shield anyone engaged in drug crimes. He said the agency will continue to track creative concealment methods, such as the use of mannequins, and dismantle networks supplying opioids and other illicit substances across Nigeria.