Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have made significant breakthroughs in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, intercepting illicit drugs valued at more than N3.4 billion in Lagos and Rivers states.
Additionally, the agency uncovered 942 explosives during a routine patrol in Kaduna State.
According to a statement released by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi on Sunday, on April 29, 2025, a joint operation involving NDLEA officers, Customs Service personnel, and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Onne, Rivers State, led to the recovery of two million pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup. These drugs were concealed in a watch-listed container.
In Lagos, on the same day, the agency recovered 1.5 million pills of a controlled opioid from a suspect, Olarenwaju Wahab, in the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo. The source of this consignment was traced to a residence in Victoria Garden City, Lekki, belonging to Obinna Kenneth, who remains at large.
Babafemi further revealed that on May 3, during a routine patrol along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway, NDLEA operatives intercepted a commercial vehicle traveling from Nasarawa to Zamfara. A search uncovered 942 explosives hidden in a sack, leading to the arrest of 30-year-old Nura Sani Muhammad, also known as Nura Hariji.
At Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, NDLEA officers intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a potent cannabis strain, concealed in food tins aboard a British Airways flight from Canada. Three suspects, including the receiver Monsurat Lawson, were arrested between April 30 and May 3.
On May 2, businessman Bobby Morris Osas was arrested at Lagos airport while attempting to travel to Italy with over 8,000 pills of tramadol. Additionally, on April 28, NDLEA foiled an attempt to export drugs to Iraq through a courier company, seizing tramadol and skunk hidden in bottles of body cream.
In a major breakthrough following a 10-month investigation, NDLEA operatives arrested Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, for importing over 2.6 million tramadol pills through Apapa port in July 2024. A raid on his Lekki residence also yielded 51 wraps of Canadian Loud.
The agency also made significant arrests in Kano, Edo, Anambra, and Niger states, seizing hundreds of thousands of opioid pills, bottles of codeine syrup, pentazocine injections, and cannabis from multiple suspects.
“The bulk of the seizures: two million pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, was made on Tuesday 29th April 2025 during a joint examination of a watch-listed container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state,” Babafemi stated.
