Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a businesswoman, Iwebema Ogechi Peace, following the discovery of 7.5 kilograms of cocaine concealed in the false bottom of her luggage at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Peace, 37, who claimed she was travelling to Beijing, China, to purchase goods for sale in Nigeria, was arrested on June 21, 2026, at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the MMIA, based on credible intelligence.
According to a statement made available to ThelensNG on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Peace was travelling aboard a Qatar Airways flight from the Lagos airport.
“A search of her check-in luggage led to the discovery of four large parcels of cocaine concealed in false bottom professionally created in her bag. The parcels of the class A drug found hidden in the bag have a combined weight of 7.5 kilograms,” the statement said.
In another major operation, efforts by operatives of two Special Operations Units of the NDLEA, who had been tracking and monitoring a container laden with 195 large sacks of Canadian Loud (a potent strain of cannabis) from Toronto, Canada, for over four weeks, paid off on June 23 when a total of 4,959 kilograms of the illicit drug, with an estimated street value of ₦12,397,500,000, was recovered from the container during a joint examination of the shipment by officers of the Agency’s Apapa Strategic Command, personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service, other security agencies, and port stakeholders at the Apapa Port Complex, Lagos.
The large illicit drug consignment, which was loaded into a 40-foot container alongside a Ford and a Nissan vehicle, came under the NDLEA‘s tracking and monitoring system on April 25, 2026, when it arrived in Toronto, Canada. It was transported by truck to Montreal, where it arrived by rail on April 29, then shipped to Tanger Med, Morocco, on May 11. It was loaded onto another vessel on May 23 before arriving at Tin Can Port, Lagos, on June 4. The container was discharged on June 5 before eventually leaving Tin Can Port and arriving at Apapa Port on June 22.
Elsewhere, in Abuja, NDLEA operatives, in a joint operation with their counterparts in Anambra State, uncovered a syndicate that plants illicit drugs in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers at motor parks.
Babafemi disclosed that the syndicate’s modus operandi came to light when operatives in Abuja intercepted a consignment of methamphetamine in a Sienna bus travelling from Nnewi, Anambra State, at Abaji, FCT, on June 20, 2026. During a search of the bus, officers recovered a waybill package containing a whitish substance suspected to be methamphetamine, concealed inside a black nylon bag, which had also been placed inside a sack of clothes bearing the receiver’s phone number.
A follow-up operation conducted the same day led to the arrest of the intended recipient of the waybill, Mrs. Gloria Peter, at Utako Motor Park. She, however, vehemently denied any knowledge or ownership of the package found in her luggage. This led to the swift arrest of the loaders of the Sienna bus in Nnewi, where one of them revealed that he had placed the drug package in the woman’s bag on the directive of the bus driver, Abdurrazak Isah.
His revelation prompted the driver to confess and identify one of his passengers, Onyebuchi Victor Okoye, as the actual owner of the drug. Okoye was subsequently arrested at Utako, FCT, during another follow-up operation. The illicit consignment weighed 467.7 grams.
Operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the NDLEA, acting on credible intelligence, arrested 57-year-old Ikechukwu Uwakwe at a motor park in Iddo, Lagos, on June 27 with 209.5kg of Scottish Loud (a strong strain of cannabis). The illicit consignment was being transported to Enugu when it was intercepted.
Two nationals of the Republic of Benin — Hossou Tito Julien, 30, and Mancellim Dossou, 19 — as well as a Nigerian, Jackson ThankGod, were apprehended by NDLEA operatives following credible intelligence. They were arrested on the Mile 2 Bridge on June 21 after their truck, conveying an illicit drug consignment from Togo through the Republic of Benin, was intercepted.
A thorough search of the truck led to the recovery of 558,900 pills of Tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment of the vehicle.
Two other suspects, Lucky Abonga and Osas Azamobo, were also arrested along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway on June 26 while transporting 118kg of skunk alongside legitimate goods in a truck that left the Ebute Ero area of Lagos Island and was bound for Onitsha, Anambra State.
Two suspects — Helen Ese Idiji, 40, and Rashidat Sa’adullah, 53 — were arrested the same day at 15 Olumokun Street, Amukoko, Lagos, with 28.8 kilograms of skunk recovered from them. Investigation revealed that the principal suspect, Idiji, stored her illicit consignments with the second suspect, Sa’adullah, from where she distributed them to her customers.
Similarly, 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 Government Girls Science Secondary School, Damaturu, Yobe State; Adesalu Primary School, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State; Government Girls Secondary School, Badawa, Kano State; School of Science and Islamic Studies, Ankpa, Kogi State; and Community Secondary School, Ezimo, Udenu Local Government Area, Enugu State, among others.
Commenting on the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended officers of the MMIA, SOUs, Apapa, FCT, Anambra, and Lagos Commands for their professionalism and commitment.
Marwa noted that their drug supply reduction efforts were well balanced with WADA sensitisation activities, while urging them and their counterparts across the country not to rest on their oars.
