NDLEA seizes cocaine, cannabis shipments, arrests suspects including fashion designer
Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted multiple drug consignments and arrested several suspects, including a fashion designer, in a series of operations across the country.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos intercepted 12 parcels of cocaine weighing 2.8 kilograms. The drugs, concealed in false-bottom food flasks, were discovered at the airport’s export shed on April 16 and were bound for the United Kingdom via a Virgin Atlantic flight.
Two cargo agents were initially arrested, while a 52-year-old freight forwarder identified as the sender was later apprehended during a follow-up operation.
In a separate case, NDLEA officers at the airport’s import shed seized 2.9 kilograms of “Loud,” a potent strain of cannabis, hidden in snack packs on a shipment arriving from the United States aboard a Delta Air Lines flight. Two clearing agents were arrested, followed by the capture of the consignee, a 29-year-old fashion designer, at a residence in Ogba, Lagos.
Elsewhere, along the Kaduna–Zaria highway, operatives intercepted a truck transporting cement and uncovered 847 kilograms of skunk cannabis concealed in 760 blocks and 33 jumbo bags. The driver was taken into custody.
In Cross River State, a raid on a forest in Uwet community led to the arrest of a 53-year-old woman, while 15,000 kilograms of cannabis cultivated on six hectares of farmland were destroyed. Additional raids in Edo State and Delta State resulted in the destruction and seizure of more drugs, along with multiple arrests.
Further operations in Lagos led to the arrest of two suspects on the Mile 2–Badagry expressway, where officers recovered 11,900 capsules of tramadol and 400 ampoules of phenobarbital reportedly destined for Ghana. Another raid on a building in Lagos Island yielded 95.8 kilograms of cannabis.
NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa commended officers across several state commands for the seizures and arrests, urging continued momentum in both enforcement and the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns nationwide.
