By Ijendu Iheaka
Aba (Abia) June 23, 2026
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Abia command, says it has arrested 429 suspects made up of 355 males and 74 females in the last one year.
The State NDLEA Commander, Mr. Chilee Chigbu disclosed this while answering questions from newsmen in Aba on Tuesday.
He said seized drugs within the period weighed 2, 078 kilogrammes made up of cocaine, heroin, Cannabis sativa, methamphetamine (Mkpuru Mmiri), tramadol, and other psychedelics.
“We have made remarkable arrests like the one of Dec. 11, 2025 when through intelligence received, we bursted an illegal cough syrup with Codeine production site in Umuokpara, Aro Ngwa, Osisioma LGA.
“The factory had produced a total of 9,915 bottles of illegally manufactured codeine cough syrup weighing 1.15 tonnes,” he said.
Chigbu said his command currently has in its custody Mr Godwin Obiorah, a septuagenarian, and Pa Godwin Orji, an octogenarian, both arrested for allegedly dealing in illicit drugs.
He said Obiorah was arrested on June 19, 2026 by NDLEA officers based on intelligence from Umuahia with 4.6 kilograms of assorted psychotropic substances, including Diazepam and Tramadol.
“As for the octogenarian, Orji, who is currently 84 years old, he was arrested on June 18, 2026 by vigilante operatives overseeing St Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia.
“They arrested a 15-year-old, SS2 student, (name withheld) with cannabis sativa, which he was distributing in school to his fellow students and upon arrest, he said Orji was his supplier.
“And because the boy is still in school, we can’t stop his education so we organized an intervention through his parents so that he would be coming for counseling with his mother.” Chigbu narrated.
Chigbu said that his command had an arrangement with the school the boy attends to spend more time to be counseling them because most of them have been introduced to the hard drug.
He said the two old men in their custody are awaiting their day in law courts.
Chigbu said within the period under review, the command prosecuted 104 fresh cases at the Federal High Court, Umuahia Division, and recorded 95 convictions with 23 criminal cases currently pending.
Explaining the reason behind successful convictions, Chigbu said the agency had made tremendous successful breaks because it left “reactive operations for proactive operations”.
“We criminalise the dealers, not the users. Before we get you and take you to court, we must have gathered all necessary information to nail the suspect, not just to make unnecessary arrests.
“When we arrest them with these available pieces of evidence, it’s very difficult for anyone of them to escape.” he said.
Chigbu said the agency can win the war against hard drugs by shutting young people off from hard drugs involvement.
“Every week, we sensitise three to four schools in Abia State on the dangers of hard drug usage and how not to get involved.
“It is a programme of its own just to win this war. If we reduce the number of young people getting involved, we will definitely win the war,” he said.
He said the agency nationwide noticed that old strategies could not solve new drug-related problems and so adopted a more result-orientated approach.
Chigbu said the agency was warming up for the June 26, 2026 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (World Drug Day),with the intention on reaching new heights in the drug war.
He said with the 2026 theme “World Drug Problem: Persisting Issues, New Challenges, Innovative Responses”, Abia command has been fired into an aggressive operations mode.
Chigbu said his command is aggressively sensitising secondary school students to ensure the entrance of drug dealers into the schools does not leave a remarkable impact.
He said the theme acknowledged that while old battlegrounds remained, new synthetic threats, sophisticated traffic networks and digital illicit markets have emerged.
He said that the current rate of drug peddling demanded that NDLEA counter the dealers with proactive technology driven and innovative responses.
“The Abia State command, with the continued support of the National Headquarters and Abia government, has heavily modernised our operations.
“We have also balanced our enforcement capabilities with aggressive social advocacy through our war against drugs initiative, which remains our primary vehicle for preventive actions,” he said.
He said that the agency from the headquarters divided the drug remand directorates into two because it believed that arrests of culprits alone cannot win the war.
“So, we now have Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation (CTR) and Prevention and Sensitisation (PS) and with this balanced approach we are reducing both the supply and the demand.
“Every week, we sensitise three to four schools in Abia State and this is a programme targeted just at winning this war by shutting off young people’s involvement.
Chigbu said the opportunity of commemorating the UN day against drug abuse fuses all the agency’s collective efforts against illicit drugs, evaluates them to chart a 12 Months definitive direction for the war.
