By Nkechi Eze
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted parcels of cocaine concealed in specially modified food flasks and uncovered multiple consignments of illicit drugs in operations across several states, leading to a series of arrests including a fashion designer and cargo agents.
The agency disclosed that 12 large parcels of cocaine hidden in the false bottom of food flasks and bound for the United Kingdom were intercepted at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
According to a statement by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the cocaine consignment, weighing 2.80 kilograms, was intercepted on Thursday, April 9, 2026 by operatives attached to the airport’s export shed while the drugs were being prepared for shipment aboard a flight operated by Virgin Atlantic.
Two cargo agents linked to the shipment, Ama Obinna Ufeim, 33, and Ogabi Monday Akorede, 39, were immediately arrested. Further investigation later led to the identification of the sender as a 52-year-old freight and forwarding agent, Agoro Tajudeen Moninuola, who was subsequently apprehended in a follow-up operation.
In a similar operation at the import shed of the Lagos airport on Wednesday, April 8, NDLEA operatives intercepted a consignment of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 2.90 kilograms, concealed inside snack food packs. The shipment had arrived from the United States aboard a flight operated by Delta Air Lines.
Two cargo clearing agents, Animashaun Moshood Adetunji and Mercy Gabriel Oluwasegun, were initially arrested in connection with the seizure. Investigations later led to the arrest of the consignee, 29-year-old fashion designer Saheed Adeshina Adegoke, during a follow-up operation at his residence located at 3 Oba Ogunji Road, Ogba, Lagos, on Monday, April 13.
Elsewhere in Kaduna State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Kaduna-Zaria highway near Gwargwaje in Zaria intercepted a trailer loaded with cement and heading to Hadeja in Jigawa State. A thorough search of the truck revealed 760 blocks and 33 jumbo bags of skunk, another strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 847 kilograms.
The driver of the truck, 33-year-old Umar Garba Haruna, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
In Cross River State, NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, carried out a raid in a forest within the Uwet community of Akamkpa Local Government Area, where they destroyed 15,000 kilograms of skunk cultivated across six hectares of farmland. During the operation conducted on Thursday, April 16, officers also recovered 119 kilograms of the same substance and arrested a 53-year-old suspect, Alice Sunday Udoh.
Similarly, another cannabis farm was raided on Tuesday, April 14 at Saboro Camp in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. NDLEA operatives destroyed 2,281.43 kilograms of the psychoactive substance during the operation.
Three suspects were arrested in connection with the raid: Nweke Smart, 27; Christopher Egbe, 62; and Monday Ayan, 45. Christopher and Monday were reportedly caught with 38.5 kilograms of cannabis along with seeds of the substance.
In Delta State, two suspects identified as Sunday Odili, 49, and Ijenebe Joshua, 39, were arrested at the Powerline area of Okwo on Friday, April 17 with 87.838 kilograms of skunk and cannabis seeds.
Back in Lagos, NDLEA operatives also intercepted a consignment of pharmaceutical drugs suspected to be headed for Ghana. Two suspects, Chinedu Ogbekene and Zindozin Aloukou Bienvenu, were arrested on Wednesday, April 15 along the Mile 2 axis of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway while conveying 11,900 capsules of tramadol and 400 ampoules of phenobarbital injection concealed in a truck.
On the same day, operatives raided a two-storey building at Petti on Lagos Island, where they recovered a total of 95.8 kilograms of skunk.
Meanwhile, the agency’s commands and formations across the country continued their drug abuse prevention campaign under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative through sensitisation programmes in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities.
Some of the recent outreach activities include WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of Alfurgan Islamic School in Paiko, Niger State; Edgerly Memorial Girls Secondary School in Calabar, Cross River State; Heritage Model School in Ankpa, Kogi State; Government Day Junior and Senior Secondary School in Kankia, Katsina State; Government Senior Secondary School in Rano, Kano State; and De Ambassador Secondary School in Epe, Lagos State.
While commending officers and personnel of the NDLEA commands in Lagos, Edo, Delta, Cross River and Kaduna for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Mohamed Buba Marwa, praised their operational successes.
Marwa noted that the officers had effectively balanced their drug supply reduction operations with public sensitisation under the WADA campaign and urged them, as well as other personnel across the country, to sustain the current operational momentum.
