Three kingpins and 16 other offenders have been convicted and sentenced to a total of Three Hundred and Two (302) years in prison for trafficking and dealing in illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, cannabis and opioids following their arrest and diligent prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The 19 convicts top the list of 414 drug traffickers and dealers convicted by the Federal High Court in Benue, Bauchi, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, Gombe and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja between July 1st 31st 2024 based on charges filed against them by the anti-narcotics agency.
One of the three kingpins, 50-year-old Bolanle Lookman Dauda was arrested in an intelligence-led raid by operatives of a special operation unit in NDLEA at Ibiye, along Lagos-Badagry expressway while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana on Saturday 25th May 2024.
At the point of his arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were found on him. A swift follow up operation in his residence at Plot 24/25 OPIC extension, Petedo road, Agbara, Ogun state, led to the recovery of additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10kg, bringing the total weight of the cocaine seized from him to 57.5 kilograms.
He was subsequently arraigned before Hon. Justice Ambrose Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos in charge number FHC/L/537C/2024. In his judgment delivered on 19th July 2024, Justice Allagoa convicted and sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment or payment of an option of N30million fine.
Another kingpin who was put behind bars is 34-year-old Ikeh Stanley Ifeanyi who was arrested at the popular Idumota market in Lagos Island, where no fewer than 1,100 ampoules of lethal synthetic opioid, fentanyl, weighing 6.480kg were recovered from him. The dangerous opioid is 100 times more potent than heroin and currently responsible for over 70% overdose deaths as well as a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the US.
He was later arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare of the Federal High Court Lagos in charge number FHC/L/433C/2024. Delivering his judgment on 4th July 2024, the trial judge convicted Ifeanyi on the two counts charge and sentenced him to 14 years in jail or an option of N2million fine.
