Operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug kingpin identified as Yussuf Abayomi Azeez at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos while on his way to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, a holy pilgrimage.
According to the anti-narcotic agency, the 40-year-old’s arrest at about 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 6, 2025, comes after months of intelligence and surveillance on him and his criminal drug activities.
At the time of his arrest, Yussuf was found in company of another suspect, 43-year-old Abideen Kekere-Ekun.
The NDLEA in a statement by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi on Sunday, disclosed that the drug kingpin had been arrested and charged for drug offences in the United Kingdom but jumped bail and escaped to Nigeria.
Upon his arrest, the suspect was swiftly driven to his 17, Vincent Eku Street, Ogombo, Lekki clandestine laboratory which has been under surveillance for a while.
Babafemi revealed that Yussuf had set up the massive laboratory for the production of Colorado, a deadly synthetic cannabis and other illicit substances after evading the UK legal system.
“Inside the massive building, operatives from the Agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring were able to dismantle all installed laboratory equipment, precursor chemicals and already produced illicit substances including Colorado, all weighing 148.3 kilograms,” the statement noted.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives, in conjunction with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, discovered 105.5kg Molly, a designer drug, and 500 grams of methamphetamine during a joint examination of a shipment at the Sifax Bonded Terminal in Okota, Lagos, on Friday, November 7.
Elsewhere (Niger State), NDLEA operatives intercepted Ibrahim Mohammed, 35, in a Volvo truck marked GRZ 872 XA along Kainji-Wawa road while conveying 87,000 pills of tramadol and 72kg of skunk (a strain of cannabis) on Thursday, November 6.
Similarly, not fewer than 34,520 capsules of tramadol were found concealed in different compartments of a Toyota Corolla car marked GAN 102 AR, which was intercepted along the Zaki-Biam – Wukari Road on Monday, November 3, while the driver Aliyu Samaila, 25, was arrested. The opioids had been loaded in Onitsha, Anambra State, and were heading to Cameroon.
In Taraba, NDLEA officers arrested a suspect Felix Tanko Chinedu, 28, with 15,020 capsules of tramadol at Kasuwabera ATC in Ardo Kola Local Government Area of the state on Thursday, November 6.
NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene/Lokoja highway, Kogi State, also intercepted a consignment of 7.600kg Loud (a strong strain of cannabis) on Wednesday, November 5. A follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of the owner, Chukwunonso Anieze, 40, while no fewer than 175,000 pills of opioids were recovered from another consignment at the location same day.
Three suspects — Olayide Oyidiran, 39; Abdulsalam Abdulsalam, 28; and Opeyemi Tijjani, 39, were on Wednesday, November 5, nabbed at Abuja/Kaduna tollgate with 769kg of skunk being conveyed in a truck marked TRE 897 BE, coming from Lagos en route Owo, Ondo State, and heading to Kano.
The statement added: “A 73-year-old grandpa James Ugbedo was on Friday 7th November arrested in a cannabis plantation at Igbeshi forest, Imiakebo, Etsako East LGA, Edo State where 1,459.75kg skunk was destroyed and 5.6kg of same substance evacuated, while 70-year-old grandma Mrs. Comfort Odudu was nabbed at Onopa, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State with 5kg skunk on Tuesday 4th November.”
Commenting on the arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended the officers and men of SOP, DFCM, Tincan, Edo, Taraba, Kaduna, Kogi, Niger, and Bayelsa Commands for the successful operations.
Marwa enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
“The dismantling of yet another clandestine laboratory for the production of Colorado and other dangerous synthetic substances and the arrest of the kingpin behind it in Lekki, coming barely a week after similar actions were taken against another cartel in Ajao estate Lagos shows that these are no doubt the first in the series of what will be many strikes against merchants of death who prey on the weak in our communities.
“Let it be known to those still hiding in the dark that the NDLEA supported by our local and international law enforcement partners will continue to hunt them and bring them to justice,” the NDLEA boss added.
