Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a major distributor of illicit substances within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Ibrahim Momoh, popularly known as Ibrahim Bendel.
Spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the development, in a statement seen by Politics Nigeria on Monday.
Babafemi said the convict was arrested during a raid of his hideout at Filin Dabo, Dei-Dei area of the FCT, seven years after his escape from prison custody following his conviction for drug dealing.
According to him, Momoh was first arrested on November 27, 2014 with Cannabis sativa weighing 385.1kg, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on July 22, 2015, but while serving his jail term at Kuje, he escaped from prison custody on May 16, 2016.
“Following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on November 20, 2022 stormed the warehouse of the fleeing convict, Ibrahim Momoh, and recovered 81 jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 1,278kg,” the NDLEA spokesperson said.
“The store was located within his poultry farm in the Dei-Dei area of the FCT. Though Momoh was not around at the time, his warehouse manager, 55-year-old Ghanaian, Richard Forson Gordon was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to two years in jail.
“The Agency thereafter declared Momoh was wanted. The manhunt for the drug lord paid off on November 5, when operatives again raided his hideout at Filin Dabo, Dei-Dei area of Abuja where he was arrested with 56.9kg of Cannabis sativa and 42.7 grammes of Diazepam,” Babafemi added.
In another raid in the FCT, a suspect Yusufa Ibrahim, 27, was arrested with 75.3kg of cannabis.
