By Andrew Haruna
LAGOS, Nigeria – Sunday, April 20, 2025
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a fresh wave of drug trafficking attempts, including a cocaine consignment cleverly concealed within religious books destined for Saudi Arabia and the arrest of a 22-year-old bandit drug supplier hiding injections in his private parts.
The cocaine shipment, weighing 500 grams and hidden inside the pages of 20 religious books, was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at a courier service in Lagos on Tuesday, April 15. Officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) detected the concealed drugs during a routine examination of export cargo headed for Saudi Arabia.
On the same day at a separate courier outlet, NDLEA officers also intercepted five parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 2.8 kilograms. The parcel originated from the United States.
In a related crackdown, NDLEA operatives arrested Muhammad Mohammed, a 22-year-old man accused of supplying drugs to bandits. He was caught on Sunday, April 13, along Bichi-Kano road while heading to Katsina with 277 ampoules of pentazocine injection strapped to his thigh and private parts using Sellotape.
Still in Kano, another suspect, Mohammed Abdulrahman Abdulaziz, 43, was arrested the same day in the Nasarawa area with 68 blocks of skunk weighing 30kg.
Meanwhile, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the NDLEA raided a warehouse on Major General Isaiah Allison Street, recovering 557.2kg of skunk, 5.6kg of methamphetamine, and 29.8 grams of heroin. Four suspects—Sarimiye Suwa Kurtis (46), Roland Prosper (34), Sarimiye Tare Paul (45), and Fidelis Ugbesla (46)—were apprehended during the operation on Wednesday, April 16.
In Lagos, 1,100kg of skunk was seized from a delivery van in Surulere on Thursday, April 17, and the driver, Ismail Abdullahi, was arrested. Another bust in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Friday, April 18, led to the recovery of 31,950 pills of Tramadol 225mg and Diazepam from the home of suspect Ike Ani, 30.
The anti-narcotics agency also made a major bust in Kebbi State, where 97kg of skunk was recovered from bags of charcoal in a vehicle traveling from Malabil, Benin Republic. Three men—Abubakar Ibrahim (50), Mustapha Aliyu (32), and Bashar Lawali (28)—were arrested.
In Anambra, 48-year-old Okafor Marcel was arrested in Abatete with 11.5kg of skunk, while in Osogbo, Osun State, NDLEA officers nabbed 27-year-old Ajala Mercy on Tuesday, April 15, with 43 litres of skushi, a dangerous cocktail of black currant, cannabis, and opioids.
Also, NDLEA operatives destroyed two cannabis farms in the Egbeta forest of Edo State’s Ovia North East LGA, where 3,717.86kg of cannabis plants grown on 1.49 hectares were set ablaze. An additional 136.5kg of processed cannabis was recovered.
At Tincan Island Port in Lagos, a long-wanted suspect, Basorun Usman Kayode (40), was finally arrested in connection with a 107kg Loud shipment from Canada seized in 2023. Another suspect, Dauda Yakubu, known for distributing drugs in the seaport area, was also apprehended on Monday, April 14.
As part of the NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, educational outreach programs were held across various states, including Lagos, Ekiti, Niger, Osun, Cross River, and Anambra, targeting students, traders, and transport workers.
NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the dedication of officers across all commands for their effective efforts in curbing both the supply and demand sides of drug abuse in the country.