Operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug kingpin, Francis Chijioke Ibemesi, who is popularly known as Chisco Bee.
Ibemesi, who operates under the cover of a businessman and hotelier, was apprehended after weeks of intelligence and surveillance on his criminal activities.
According to the NDLEA’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the 42-year-old suspect who is the MD/CEO of Franc CJ Ibemesi Nig Ltd was arrested at his Daisy Garden Hotel located at 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 42 jumbo bags and four cartons of Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 1,762.8 kilograms, were recovered.
Also seized from him at the point of arrest were USD11,600, 2,000 British pounds, 2,200 Euros, and 50 Canadian dollars, all in cash.
In another instance, Babafemi explained that an attempt by a drug syndicate operating at Orita-Apeje, Araromi-Okeodo Forest Reserve in Ife South local government area of Osun State to load and distribute large quantities of processed skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 11,135 kilograms, was thwarted on Tuesday, 11th November by NDLEA operatives after days of surveillance in the forest.
“Two trucks being used to transport the illicit consignments: a Volvo truck marked WWR 29 XA and a Mercedes truck with registration number AWK 713 YZ were seized and seven suspects arrested,” he said.
Babafemi named those arrested in connection with the seizure to include Lucky Abiodun, Julius Amos, Victor Ngbikili, Sunday Oduegwu, Ibrahim Akanni, Eze Godstime, and Fred Ifeanyichukwu.
He added that a total of 1,902.1 kilograms of skunk were also recovered in parts of Edo State, while 184.1kg was recovered along a bush path at Oza/Igbanke road, Igbanke, in Orhionmwon LGA on Thursday, 13th November.
Also, 672kg of the illicit substance was evacuated from Utese Forest, Ovia North East LGA on Friday, 14th November, with 494kg recovered from a Mercedes Benz car marked DE311BEN along the Benin-Akure road, where a suspect Felix Edah, 45, was arrested on the same day, just as Lucky Abagha, 51, was nabbed in another Mercedes Benz car marked JJJ 56 JW conveying 552kg.
While four suspects, Micheal Okoh, Offor Agada, Raphael Nkemjika and Nwabueze Franklin, were arrested with 68kg of skunk and 3.150kg methamphetamine along the Ijebu-Ode expressway in Ogun State, another suspect, Danjuma Tukura, 50, was nabbed with 172kg of skunk at Sunkani area of Ardo Kola LGA, Taraba State, on Friday, 14th November and Wisdom Titus, 24, with 84kg of the same substance at Takum area of the state.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on Friday, 14th November, recovered 396,000 capsules of tramadol from a suspect, Ahmed Isyaku Nda, 50, at Aliyu Mustapha International Airport, Yola, while 785kg of skunk was evacuated from the warehouse of a drug dealer currently at large at Asob Maraba, Karu LGA of Nasarawa State.
Two suspects, including Jamiu Kunle Kardoso and Oriyomi Waliu, were arrested on Friday, 14th November, with 130 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 65.150kg in the Surulere area of Lagos, just as Taofeek Moraina was nabbed on the same day with 282 blocks of Ghana Loud with a gross weight of 141kg at Otto, Oyingbo area of Lagos.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 13th November, intercepted a truck marked T-0262KT along Ilorin – Jebba Expressway, conveying 197 blocks of skunk weighing 78.565kg and 155 cartons of rubber solutions, while the truck driver, Umar Yakubu, was taken into custody.
In another operation, a commercial bus with registration number KJA-657CY was intercepted at Eiyenkonrin, Ilorin, on Wednesday, 12th November, with 20 blocks of skunk concealed in a 50-litre jerry can recovered, and the driver of the bus, Ibrahim Bello, was arrested.
