7 Years after escape from prison, NDLEA arrests wanted drug kingpin

Seven years after his escape from prison custody following his conviction for drug dealing, a notorious major distributor of illicit substances within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Ibrahim Momoh, popularly known as Ibrahim Bendel, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.…CONTINUE READING

The arrest of Momoh was effected during a raid of his hideout at Filin Dabo, Dei-Dei area of the FCT.

He was first arrested on November 27, 2014 with cannabis sativa weighing 385.1kgs, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on July 22, 2015 but while serving his jail term at Kuje Prison, he escaped from prison custody on May 16, 2016.

Following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on November 20, 2022 stormed the warehouse of the fleeing ex-convict and recovered 81 jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 1,278kgs.

The store was located within his poultry farm in Dei-Dei area of the FCT.

Though Momoh was not around at the time, his warehouse manager, a 55-year-old Ghanaian, Richard Forson Gordon, was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to two years in jail.

The Agency thereafter declared Momoh wanted.

The manhunt for the drug lord paid off on November 5, 2023 when operatives again raided his hideout at Filin Dabo, Dei-Dei area of Abuja, where he was arrested with 56.9kgs of cannabis sativa and 42.7 grams of Diazepam.

In another raid in the same area of the FCT on November 13, 2023, a suspect Yusufa Ibrahim, 27, was arrested with 75.3kgs of cannabis.

Meanwhile, a massive operation in the forest of Efon Alaye in Efon local government area of Ekiti state on November 18, 2023 has led to the destruction of 52,500 kilograms of cannabis sativa covering over 21 hectares of farmland while a total of ninety two bags of same substance weighing 1,380 kilograms were recovered and another 250 bags weighing 3,000kgs stored in different huts on the farm were also burnt.

No fewer than 15 suspects were arrested on the farm during the operation.

They were: Okikiri Julius, 27; Ozoemene Friday Efajemu, 31; Tosin Ibrahim, 18; Israel Samuel, 25; Godwin David, 39; Friday Isaac, 19; 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.