NDLEA Arrests Wanted Drug Baron, Recovers Major Drug Shipment and Foreign Currency in Lagos Hideout

By our Correspondent

A Special Operations Unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Frank Chijioke Ibemesi, popularly known as Chisco Bee, a wanted drug baron who had been operating under the guise of a businessman and hotelier.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, stating that the 42-year-old suspect was apprehended following weeks of intelligence gathering and surveillance on his illicit activities.

According to Babafemi, the suspect, who is the MD/CEO of Franc CJ Ibemesi Nig. Ltd, was arrested at his Daisy Garden Hotel located at No. 66–68 Agbeke Street, Ago Palace Way, Isolo, Lagos, in the early hours of Saturday, 15th November 2025. He was subsequently taken to his warehouse at 7 Pius Ezeobi Street, off Ago Palace Way, Isolo, where operatives recovered 42 jumbo bags and four cartons of Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 1,762.8 kilograms.

He added that cash seized from the suspect at the point of arrest included $11,600 US dollars, 2,000 British Pounds, 2,200 Euros, and 50 Canadian dollars.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, 11th November, thwarted attempts by a drug syndicate operating in the Orita-Apeje, Araromi-Okeodo forest reserve in Ife South LGA of Osun State to load and distribute large quantities of processed skunk. The intercepted consignment weighed a total of 11,135 kilograms and followed days of surveillance in the forest.

Two trucks used for transporting the drugs—a Volvo truck marked WWR 29 XA and a Mercedes truck with registration number AWK 713 YZ—were seized. Seven suspects identified as Lucky Abiodun, Julius Amos, Victor Ngbikili, Sunday Oduegwu, Ibrahim Akanni, Eze Godstime, and Fred Ifeanyichukwu were arrested.

In other operations across Edo State, NDLEA recovered a total of 1,902.1 kilograms of skunk. This included 184.1kg found along a bush path at Oza/Igbanke Road in Orhionmwon LGA on Thursday, 13th November, and 672kg evacuated from Utese Forest in Ovia North East LGA on Friday, 14th November. Additionally, 494kg was recovered from a Mercedes Benz with registration number DE311BEN along the Benin–Akure Road, where a suspect, Felix Edah, 45, was arrested. Another suspect, Lucky Abagha, 51, was also arrested in a separate Mercedes Benz marked JJJ 56 JW with 552kg of skunk.

Four suspects—Micheal Okoh, Offor Agada, Raphael Nkemjika, and Nwabueze Franklin—were arrested along the Ijebu–Ode Expressway in Ogun State with 68kg of skunk and 3.150kg of methamphetamine. In Taraba State, Danjuma Tukura, 50, was arrested with 172kg of skunk at Sunkani, Ardo Kola LGA, while 24-year-old Wisdom Titus was caught with 84kg of the same substance in Takum.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives recovered 396,000 capsules of tramadol from a suspect, Ahmed Isyaku Nda, 50, at the Aliyu Mustapha International Airport, Yola, on Friday, 14th November. Meanwhile, 785kg of skunk was evacuated from the warehouse of a drug dealer currently at large in Asob Maraba, Karu, Nasarawa State.

Two suspects, Jamiu Kunle Kardoso and Oriyomi Waliu, were arrested in Surulere, Lagos, with 130 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 65.150kg on Friday, 14th November. That same day, Taofeek Moraina was apprehended at Otto, Oyingbo, Lagos, with 282 blocks of Ghana Loud, weighing 141kg.

In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 13th November, intercepted a truck marked T-0262KT along the Ilorin–Jebba Expressway carrying 197 blocks of skunk weighing 78.565kg and 155 cartons of rubber solutions. The driver, Umar Yakubu, was taken into custody. In another operation at Eiyenkorin, Ilorin, a commercial bus with registration number KJA-657CY was intercepted with 20 blocks of skunk concealed in a 50-litre jerrycan, and the driver, Ibrahim Bello, was arrested on Wednesday, 12th November.

While commending the officers and men of the SOU and the Osun, Lagos, Edo, Ogun, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, and Kwara Commands for the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to sustain the Agency’s balanced and comprehensive approach to drug control efforts.