Taiwo Popoola
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said its operatives have thwarted desperate bids by some drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) to move illicit consignments such as cocaine, tramadol, loud, molly, and others concealed in prayer beads, packs of board games, and female clothes to the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates through logistics firms and the Lagos airport.
According to the NDLEA, two suspects behind some of the aborted missions at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, have already been arrested.
This was made known in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.
Babafemi disclosed that one of the suspects is a 43-year-old businesswoman, Jakpor Egware May, who was nabbed at the Gate ‘C’ departure hall of the Lagos airport while attempting to board an Air France flight to Italy on Saturday, 8th March 2025.
The NDLEA spokesman stated that 190 parcels of tramadol 225mg and another parcel of skunk, a strain of cannabis, were recovered from the suspect’s luggage when she was searched.
May, in her statement, claimed that she bought the drugs herself to resell them in Italy.
Similarly, Babafemi announced that NDLEA officers on Tuesday, 11th March, arrested a 60-year-old suspect, Yahaya Fatai Ayinla, at the export shed of the Lagos airport while attempting to ship a cargo containing clothes used to conceal 400 grams of skunk to New York, United States of America.
At some logistics companies in Lagos, efforts by drug traffickers to export over two kilograms of loud, molly, and tramadol (365mg, 225mg) hidden in vitamin C bottles and female clothes to the U.S. were frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI.
Other shipments of 230 grams of cocaine concealed in prayer beads, soles of locally made shoes, and packs of board games heading to Saudi Arabia, Poland, and the UAE were equally intercepted between Monday, 10th March, and Wednesday, 12th March.
In Kano, a total of 727 blocks of compressed skunk weighing 479kg were recovered from a 40-year-old suspect, Hassan Haruna, who was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Chalawa area of the state on Wednesday, 12th March. No fewer than 58,300 pills of tramadol were intercepted along the Kabba-Obajana highway, Kogi State, in a commercial bus coming from Lagos en route to Abuja on Tuesday, 11th March.
Raid operations in Kachia, Kaduna State, on Thursday, 13th March, led to the arrest of Idris Hamza, 21, with 4,900 pills of tramadol 225mg seized from him. Similarly, a raid in the Hayin Banki area of Kaduna North LGA on Friday, 14th March, resulted in the arrest of 25-year-old Aminu Magaji, from whom 2,900 tablets of tramadol 225mg were recovered.
While a total of 40,200 tablets of tramadol 225mg were recovered from the duo of Olowoko Faruk and Akeem Ridwan along the Ilorin-Jebba expressway, Bode Saadu, Kwara State, on Friday, 14th March, NDLEA operatives also seized 21,700 capsules of the same opioid from a suspect, Salisu Usman, along the Eiyenkorin expressway, Ilorin, on Thursday, 13th March.
In Taraba State, NDLEA officers on Friday, 14th March, arrested Polycarp Adeku, 35, at Bente Road, Kurmi LGA, with 15.77kg of skunk, while in Osun State, operatives on Thursday, 13th March, intercepted a commercial bus marked SGB 564 YS coming from Idumota, Lagos Island, in front of King University, Ode-Omu, with a total of 48.7kg of Ghanaian loud, Colorado, and Canadian loud—all strains of cannabis. No fewer than nine suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizure in Osogbo and Ile-Ife during follow-up operations.
A 58-year-old suspect, Ade Esan (aka Pastor), was arrested on Tuesday, 11th March, along the Gwagwalada expressway, FCT Abuja, with 27,800 pills of tramadol 225mg, while another suspect, Usman Mohammed, 26, was nabbed the same day with various quantities of skunk and cocaine at Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.
In Abia State, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, 15th March, raided the Ntigha community, Isiala-Ngwa North LGA, where a 34-year-old suspect, Chinaza Nwogu (aka Young Money), was arrested with 274 grams of heroin, 141 grams of methamphetamine, 2.931kg of cannabis sativa, 4 grams of cocaine, and a monetary exhibit of Seven Hundred and Fifty-Three Thousand, Fifteen Naira (N753,015.00).
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of MMIA, DOGI, Kano, Kwara, Kaduna, Taraba, Abia, Osun, and FCT Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures.
Marwa stated that their operational successes, as well as their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts, are well appreciated.
