The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has said it arrested a notorious supplier of psychoactive substances to traffickers in Taraba State, Rigima Lami.
The NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, said operatives made the arrest months after Lami was placed on the wanted list of the agency.
Babafemi said the 40-year-old came under the anti-narcotic agency’s searchlight when a number of traffickers arrested in the state in 2021 and early this year fingered her as their supplier.
He said the manhunt for Lami paid off on Monday, April 4, when operatives tracked her to her hideout in Iware village in the Ardo Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State.
According to him, the search for Lami began in October 2021 following the arrest, prosecution and conviction of a 50-year-old drug dealer, Abdullahi Madaki.
“After serving his brief jail sentence, Madaki returned to the illicit trade with Lami still as his supplier.
“He was, however, rearrested on February 13, 2022, while another trafficker, Jamilu Hassan, 20, who is also a member of Lami’s supply chain, was nabbed on February 24,” the spokesperson added.
In a related development, Babafemi said operatives of the NDLEA arrested a cross-border drug trafficker, Emeka Okiru, 40, with 32,700 tablets of tramadol 225mg under the brand name, Royal and Tramaking, in Adamawa State.
Babafemi noted that the suspect was arrested at Garden City, Mubi, in the Mubi North LGA, on Tuesday, April 5, while preparing to supply his customers who came from Cameroon.
He said the drugs were found concealed in cartons of paintbrushes.
