The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded a landmark success in its war against drug trafficking with the seizure of a staggering N3.4 billion worth of illicit opioids in Lagos and Port Harcourt. This operation involved the interception of over 3.5 million pills of opioids and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, demonstrating the increasing boldness of traffickers and the corresponding vigilance of NDLEA operatives.
The bulk of the seizures occurred at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, on April 29, 2025, during a joint examination of a watch-listed container. The NDLEA, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, discovered 2 million pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, indicating a coordinated transnational smuggling effort.
In Lagos, operatives arrested Olarenwaju Wahab at Alaba-Rago, Ojo, with 1.5 million pills of a controlled opioid, later traced to Obinna Kenneth, a suspect currently at large whose residence in Victoria Garden City, Lekki, served as the origin of the consignment.
Smuggling Tricks: Drugs Hidden in Chocolate and Creams
Traffickers are now resorting to increasingly creative methods to move illicit substances. At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA officers uncovered 42 parcels of Canadian Loud (20kg cannabis) cleverly concealed in tins of chocolate, Milo, white and red kidney beans. The cargo had arrived via a British Airways flight from Canada. Between April 30 and May 3, three suspects, including Monsurat Ewawunmi Lawson, were arrested.
Meanwhile, Bobby Morris Osas, a businessman, was arrested on May 2 while attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Italy. A search revealed 8,130 tramadol pills of varying strengths. In another case, NDLEA foiled a syndicate’s attempt to export tramadol and skunk (104g) to Iraq using body cream bottles via a courier firm in Lagos on April 28.
These incidents highlight the traffickers’ evolving tactics and the need for consistent upgrades in NDLEA’s detection methods and inter-agency collaboration.
Arms and Explosives Headed to Zamfara Intercepted in Kaduna
In a parallel security breakthrough, NDLEA operatives in Kaduna on May 3 intercepted a commercial vehicle en route from Nasarawa to Zamfara State carrying 942 concealed explosives. The items were discovered during a routine stop-and-search operation along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway, leading to the arrest of a 30-year-old suspect, Nura Sani Muhammad, also known as Nura Hariji.
NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Brig Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), ordered that the suspect and exhibits be handed over to the appropriate security authorities for further investigations, indicating the multi-agency significance of the seizure given the insecurity in Zamfara and surrounding regions.
This interception underscores how illicit networks are not only involved in drug trafficking but also in arms smuggling, which fuels banditry and insurgency in volatile northern regions.
NDLEA Arrests and Raids Across Multiple States
NDLEA operatives extended their enforcement efforts across various states. In Kano, five members of a trafficking syndicate led by Aminu Musa (a.k.a Kadagi) were arrested with 50 blocks of skunk (21.6kg) on April 30. In Edo State, a Toyota bus transporting assorted opioids from Onitsha to Auchi was intercepted on May 1. Recovered items included 314,020 pills of tramadol, rophynol, diazepam, exol5, 638 bottles of codeine, and 200 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
Similarly, in Anambra, a Mazda bus was stopped at Agu-Awka junction on April 30 with 50,400 tramadol capsules, 500 co-codamol tablets, and 300 pentazocine ampoules, leading to the arrest of Chinedu Eneh. In Niger State, on May 3, Yusuf Abubakar, 30, was arrested with 5,500 tramadol capsules and 2,300 ampoules of pentazocine injection after a truck search along Kontagora-Mokwa road.
These coordinated arrests reflect NDLEA’s growing intelligence network and commitment to cutting off the supply chain of narcotics across Nigeria’s vast interstate routes.
Ten-Month Manhunt Ends with Drug Kingpin’s Arrest
Crowning the agency’s latest operations was the arrest of a notorious drug kingpin, Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, after ten months on the run. Obijiaku, 52, and Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd., was linked to a shipment of 2,616,060 tramadol pills intercepted at Apapa port on July 28, 2024. His arrest on April 26, 2025, followed a sustained investigation and led to the recovery of 51 wraps of Canadian Loud from his residence in Lekki.
NDLEA’s success in tracking and capturing such a high-profile fugitive reinforces the effectiveness of long-term surveillance and inter-agency intelligence collaboration.
Meanwhile, NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization campaigns continued nationwide, with lectures at institutions including Al-istigama University, Kano, and Government Girls Junior Secondary School, Kankia, Katsina State.
Chairman Marwa commended all commands involved in the seizures and arrests, urging continued vigilance in both drug supply suppression and public awareness campaigns.
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