NDLEA Seizes Opioids Worth N3.4bn, Intercepts Explosives En Route Zamfara
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted opioids with a combined street value of over N3,428,000,000 in Rivers and Lagos states.
The anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the seized substances consisted of three million, five hundred thousand (3,500,000) pills of opioids and one hundred and sixty-three thousand (163,000) bottles of codeine syrup.
According to him, 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 the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
In Lagos, a total of 1,500,000 pills of a controlled opioid were recovered from a suspect, Olarenwaju Wahab, at the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo on Tuesday 29th April while the source of the consignment was traced to Q104B Road 25, Victoria Garden City, Lekki, which is the residence of one Obinna Kenneth who is now at large.
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kaduna – Zaria expressway on Saturday 3rd May, intercepted a commercial vehicle coming from Nasarawa State heading to Zamfara State.
A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a total of Nine Hundred and Forty-Two (942) explosives concealed in a sack and the subsequent arrest of a 30-year-old suspect Nura Sani Muhammad (alias Nura Hariji).
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 20kg, concealed in tins of chocolate, milo beverage, as well as white kidney beans and dark red kidney beans packaged as part of cargos that came into the Lagos airport onboard a British Airways flight from Canada. At least, three suspects including the receiver of the consignment, Monsurat Ewawunmi Lawson, have been arrested between Wednesday 30th April and Saturday 3rd May.
Babafemi further disclosed that the anti-narcotics agency’s operatives, on Saturday 26th April, arrested a wanted drug kingpin, 52-year-old Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, over his involvement in the importation of a consignment of 2,616,060 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted at Apapa seaport in Lagos on 28th July 2024.
Upon Obijiaku’s arrest, which came after 10 months of painstaking investigation, NDLEA operatives conducted a follow-up operation at his house in Lekki, which led to the seizure of 51 wraps of Canadian Loud weighing 34grams.
Furthermore, on Friday, 2 May, a businessman, identified as Bobby Morris Osas was arrested at the Lagos airport while attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Italy. A thorough search of his luggage led to the seizure of 8,130 pills of tramadol 225mg, 200mg and 100mg.
Similarly, officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) thwarted attempts by another syndicate to ship 104grams of tramadol and skunk concealed in bottles of body cream to Iraq through a courier company in Lagos, on Monday 28th April.
In Niger state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Kontagora -Mokwa road on Saturday 3rd May intercepted a Mitsubishi canter truck marked RBH 104 ZY. A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 5,500 capsules of tramadol and 2,300 ampoules of pentazocine injection as well as the arrest of a suspect Yusuf Abubakar, 30.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Lagos, Kano, PHPC, and the various commands where the arrests and seizures were made, and equally 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.
