Agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have apprehended Ibrahim Momoh, also referred to as Ibrahim Bendel, a notorious major distributor of illicit substances in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, seven years after he broke out of prison after being found guilty of drug dealing.
In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA spokesperson, disclosed that Momoh was taken into custody during a raid on his hiding place in Filin Dabo, in the Dei-Dei region of the Federal Capital Territory.
“Ibrahim Momoh was first arrested on November 27, 2014, with cannabis sativa weighing 385.1 kg. On July 22, 2015, he was prosecuted, found guilty, and given a seven and a half-year prison sentence. However, on May 16, 2016, while he was serving his sentence in Kuje, he broke out of prison custody,” stated Babafemi.
On November 20, 2022, NDLEA agents stormed Ibrahim Momoh’s fugitive ex-convict’s warehouse on the basis of solid intelligence, seizing 81 giant bags containing 1,278 kg of cannabis. His poultry farm in the FCT’s Dei-Dei neighborhood housed the store. Momoh wasn’t present, but his 55-year-old Ghanaian warehouse manager, Richard Forson Gordon, was detained, charged, and given a two-year prison term. Following that, the agency listed Ibrahim Momoh as sought.
The drug lord’s manhunt paid off on November 5, 2023, when agents raided his hiding place in Filin Dabo, Dei-Dei, Abuja, and apprehended him in possession of 42.7 grams of benzodiazepines and 56.9 kg of cannabis sativa. On Monday, November 13, during a second raid in the same FCT region, Yusufa Ibrahim, a 27-year-old suspect, was taken into custody with 75.3 kg of cannabis.
Additionally, he disclosed that on Saturday, November 18, 2023, a large-scale operation in the Efon Alaye forest in the Efon local government area of Ekiti State resulted in the eradication of 52,500 kg of cannabis sativa, spanning more than 21 hectares of farmland.
While another 250 bags, weighing 3,000 kg, that were kept in various farm huts were burned, a total of 92 bags, worth 1,380 kg, of the same substance were found.
“During the operation, no fewer than 15 suspects were arrested on the farm,” he continued. Okikiri Julius, 27, Ayomide Igbekele, 18, Joshua Daniel, 27, Emmanuel Nwachukwu, 19, Emeka Onyeama, 31, Ani Augustine, 27, Obasi Ogbu, 32, Orsusue Peter, 23, Daniel Emmanuel, 18, and Yinusa James, 22 are among them. Israel Samuel, 25, Godwin David, 39, Friday Isaac, 19, and Ayomide Igbekele, 18.
On Wednesday, November 15, at New Bridge Compound in Idoani, Ondo State, five individuals, including forty-year-old Christopher Onyebuchi, another sought drug kingpin, were taken into custody. A total of 1,945 kilograms of cannabis were found on them. The others are Momoh Jimoh, 31, Abdurahman Salahu, 29, Olorunda Ojo, 52, and Femi Tomoye, 22. Onyebuchi had previously been taken into custody by the NDLEA on March 25, 2022, with 89 kg of the same material. However, upon being charged at the Federal High Court in Akure, he absconded from court. In addition, on Sunday, November 12, state agents visited Upemen village in Owo, where they found 1,834 kg of the same material, together with 273 kg that had been taken the day before at Ipesi Akoko.
While Sokoto NDLEA officers on Thursday, November 16 recovered 290 kg of cannabis from a 20-year-old female suspect named Fatima Salmanu at Gangaren Tashar, Illela Sokoto in Sokoto North LGA, their Edo State counterparts on Monday, November 13 removed 808 kg of the same psychoactive substance from a forest at Igueben.
Additionally, on Monday, November 13, a joint raid by NDLEA agents and troops in the Kwande council area of Benue State resulted in the recovery of at least 231 kg of cannabis and the arrest of five suspected persons. Denen Terhemba, 25, Liambee Iorhuna, 36, Iorhuna Sughnen, 20, Aboh Sonter, 23, and Msendoo Tyokaa, 36, are among those who have been taken into custody.
On Tuesday, November 14, agents in Ogun State detained Tony Jonah, a suspect, at Abule Iroko with 67 kg of cannabis sativa, while agents in Lagos detained Chike Agu, a suspect, at Ago Palace Way, Isolo with 364.3 kg of loud, a cannabis variety.
Babafemi went on to say that on Monday, November 13, NDLEA agents patrolling the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Imo State stopped a truck bearing the license plate XS 669KRD that was being driven by a 33-year-old man named Orji Ifeanyi. Following a truck search, 82,320 opioid pills—including 225 mg of Tramadol and Diazepam—as well as 32.5 liters of codeine cough syrup and 100 pieces of Molly totaling 49.62 grams—were found inside the vehicle.