The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking by intercepting consignments of cocaine concealed in a local mortar and the false bottom of a backpack, packaged for shipment to China and Italy, respectively, through a logistics company in Lagos.
The seizures were made by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
According to a statement made available to ThelensNG on Sunday by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the interceptions included 250 grams of cocaine factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar packed in a carton for export to China, and 500 grams of the same Class A drug hidden in the false bottom of a backpack being shipped to Italy.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old notorious drug dealer, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, following credible intelligence.
Babafemi disclosed that the suspect was nabbed with various quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup at the time of his arrest on Monday, July 27, 2026.
Similarly, NDLEA officers on a stop-and-search operation at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha, Anambra State, on Monday, July 27, 2026, intercepted a truck marked XK 131 BDG loaded with 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kg, while the truck driver, Chinedu Nwanze, 40, was arrested.
No fewer than 331.84 kg of skunk was recovered from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale/Ughelli Expressway, Delta State, on Sunday, July 26, 2026, while NDLEA officers in Nasarawa State, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, arrested a 64-year-old man, Joseph Nwaeke, with 68 kg of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine at Asso Angwan Muazu in the Karu area of the state.
Elsewhere, in Zamfara State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Zaria-Gusau Highway on Monday, July 27, 2026, intercepted a suspect, Sani Umar, 27, conveying 7,400 pills of tramadol 225 mg, suspected to be supplies for criminal elements.
In the same vein, the Agency’s Commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, places of worship, workplaces, communities, and other public places during the past week.
The activities included WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of Hausawa Special Primary School, Kano; Royal Crown School, Oluyole, Ibadan; Government Secondary School, Ibi, Taraba State; and drivers at Challenge Bus Terminal Park, Ibadan, Oyo State, among others.
Commenting on the seizures and arrests, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the officers of DOGI, as well as the Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Nasarawa and Zamfara Commands, for the successful operations.
Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to sustain the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control by maintaining the momentum in both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
