NDLEA intercepts Saudi, UK-bound cocaine in lipsticks, property title documents

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted cocaine consignments concealed in lipsticks and property title documents destined for the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

The illicit drug consignments were recovered from cargoes being prepared for shipment at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday, July 3, 2025, by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to the logistics firm. A total of 420 grams of cocaine, factory-fitted in 84 pieces of female lipsticks heading to the UK, were seized, while 280 grams of the same Class A drug were uncovered in a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) being sent to Saudi Arabia.

A notorious drug kingpin, Ajetsibo Emami, popularly known as ‘Warri Kinsman,’ was arrested in Ikeja, Lagos, on Saturday, June 28, 2025, after ND(loop NDLEA operatives dismantled his drug trafficking network in a three-day operation, leading to the arrest of three other suspects. Recovered from Emami’s network were 24 jumbo bags containing 681 pouches of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 414.2 kilograms.

The bust of Emami’s drug ring followed credible intelligence on his attempt to move the shipment to the Lekki area of Lagos, from where it would be distributed to other parts of the state and across the country.

A businessman, Ajah Johnson Uchenna, his wife RosemaryOCS Rosemary Uchenna, their daughters Stella Uchenna and Ngozi Uchenna, and their family friend Okoro Elijah were taken into custody after investigations revealed they ran a major illicit drug distribution network in Lagos. The couple was first arrested on Friday, June 13, 2025, by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) in the Ojo area of the state and transferred to NDLEA with 277.5kg of skunk. Further intelligence led to a raid of their home and packing store on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, where 231kg of the same substance was recovered. Three persons arrested during the raid included their daughters, Ngozi Uchenna and Blessing Uchenna, as well as their family friend Okoro Elijah, who were running the family business in the couple’s absence.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, intercepted a frequent flyer, Aburemi Hysent, who specialised in conveying goods from Nigeria to Italy and vice versa. He was found to have hidden 7,660 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg inside food items packed among other goods he was conveying to Italy. He claimed he was to be paid 800 euros upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Italy.

In another interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, a total of 52 traveller’s cheques worth 17,700,000 Australian dollars, concealed in children’s books, bound for Malaysia through Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the airport on Friday, July 4, 2025, while a freight agent, Bolarinwa Saheed, was arrested. The traveller’s cheques, suspected to be counterfeit, and the suspect will be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation.

NDLEA officers at Seme border, Badagry, on Saturday, July 5, 2025, recovered 718 big balls of skunk weighing 359kg from a store in the Baba-Pupa area of the border community. Operatives on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja highway intercepted 10,000 pills of tramadol 225mg and co-codamol, as well as 1.050kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, leading to the arrest of the owners of the waybilled drug consignments: Chinedu Odo, Samuel Ogbonna, and Kingsley Ugaji at Jabi Park in Abuja during follow-up operations.

In Osun State, two suspects, Agunbiade Folusho, 40, and Suleiman Dasola, 28, were arrested at the Ajegunle area of Osogbo on Thursday, July 3, 2025, with 13,901 pills and ampoules of different opioids recovered from them. Another suspect, Adebayo Adewale, 50, was nabbed at a patent medicine shop at Arubidi Street, Ile-Ife, with 48,205 pills of opioids. A raid of a vulcaniser workshop at Akindeko Junction, Alekuwodo area of Osogbo, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, led to the arrest of three suspects: Wasiu Ajadi, 45; Babatunde Jamiu Ojo, 35; and Yusuf Sarafadeen, 39, with 1,250 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 850 pills of tramadol, and three bottles of codeine-based syrup.

Not less than 24,175 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on 9.67 hectares of cannabis farmland at Ikaka, Oke-Ila forest, Osun State, when NDLEA operatives raided the area, where seven suspects: Bunmi Adedapo, 41; Adebisi Sodiq, 26; Babatunde Gani, 22; John Sunday, 30; Israel Odabe, 29; Solomon Odabe, 21; and Prosper Odabe, 23, were arrested on Thursday, July 3, 2025.

In Borno, 167kg of skunk was recovered at Gamboru-Ngala, while a total of 452kg of the same psychoactive substance was seized at Gadar Tamburawa along the Zaria-Kano road, with two suspects, Nasuru Saleh and Mustapha Muhammad, arrested in connection with the seizure on Thursday, July 3, 2025.

NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway recovered 11,000 pills of tramadol 225mg from Sule Ibrahim Sadiq, 30, on Thursday, July 3, 2025. Their counterparts in Sokoto arrested 62-year-old Joseph Onungene in connection with the seizure of 4,800 pills of tramadol 225mg. In Kebbi State, operatives raided Bakin Kasuwa Yauri base, where they seized 312kg of skunk and 10,000 tabs of diazepam.

The duo of Chigbo Okolo, 52, and Ishaku Musa, 28, were arrested on Saturday, July 5, 2025, with 49,930 capsules of tramadol at Mallum, Ardo-Kola local council area of Taraba State.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided the Ewere forest in Owan West LGA, where they arrested a wanted suspect, Alaba Monday, 49, in one of his cannabis farms with 115kg of processed skunk, while three other suspects, Shamsu Abdullahi, Peter Egboko, and Justin John, were nabbed in another farm measuring 2.050201 hectares.

A 78-year-old suspect, Mike Abeng, was arrested with 14.49kg of skunk and tramadol during a raid by NDLEA operatives at Ofudua, Obubra LGA, Cross River State. Others nabbed with different quantities of illicit substances during the operation include Oyom Akam, 50; Sylvester Odem, 40; and Moses Ayo, 50, apprehended at Ovonum, Obubra LGA.

The War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands continued across the country in the past week. Some of them include WADA sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of Queen of Angel Secondary School, Mgbidi, Awgu, Enugu State; Divine Purpose College, Eyita, Ikorodu, Lagos; Al-Furqan College, Kankia, Katsina; and residentsવ

residents of Gomari Binta Suga community, Maiduguri, Borno State, among others.

While commending the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Lagos, Seme, Kogi, Osun, Borno, Kano, Edo, Kaduna, Cross River, Kebbi, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

The post NDLEA intercepts Saudi, UK-bound cocaine in lipsticks, property title documents appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.