NDLEA Intercepts Illicit Drugs Hidden in Speakers, Bread, Arrests Grandmother, Real Estate Agent
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted three packs of Colorado concealed in a music speaker at a motor park in Maza Maza, Lagos, while the consignment was being transported to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and ultimately to Liberia.
The illicit substance was intercepted by operatives of the Agency’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI).
The Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, noting that a tour agent, Ifeanyi Obed Augustine, 41, and the owner of the consignment, Obasi Ugochuckwu, 46, were both arrested following a swift sting operation at a nearby eatery.
In a separate operation at Iddo Park, a suspect, Ifeanyi Nwokolo Henry, was arrested on Friday, September 11, while attempting to dispatch 2.1kg of Colorado to Kano.
Babafemi also revealed that, in two separate operations in Ughelli and Asaba, Delta State, the NDLEA uncovered several ampoules of pentazocine injection, codeine syrup, tramadol, diazepam, flunitrazepam (Hypnox) and MDMA (Molly), with some of the substances concealed in music speakers. Two suspects, Emeka Oji and Chukwuebuka Anedi, were arrested in connection with the seizures.
In Kano, a raid at Sabon Gari led to the arrest of 20-year-old Saidu Adamu with a staggering 785,000 capsules of pregabalin weighing 669.425kg. A stop-and-search operation along the Zaria-Kano-Hadejia Road led to the seizure of 1,700 tablets of diazepam concealed inside loaves of bread. The consignment was recovered from Habibu Sabitu, 28.
A 51-year-old man, Chinedu Uzor, was also arrested at Katako Market in Jos, Plateau State, with 157,100 capsules of tramadol.
Similarly, the NDLEA intercepted two shipments of synthetic cannabis, popularly called Colorado/Colos, concealed in consolidated cargoes arriving from the United Kingdom.
At the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted a consignment from the UK containing 27 parcels of Colos weighing 32.20kg.
A real estate agent, Abideen Jide Salami, who showed up with a secret collection code relayed by his UK-based brother to collect a large piece of luggage containing the illicit substance, was arrested on Wednesday, September 9, 2026.
A follow-up operation stemming from a second UK-bound consignment led operatives to the designated recipient of another consignment of Colorado weighing 12.25kg. The suspect, Nurudeen Abiodun Kadiri, 44, reportedly said that the consignment was sent to him by his brother in the UK.
The Agency also sustained its pressure on illicit cannabis cultivation with the destruction of 4,832.56kg of skunk on cannabis farms at Usen Forest, Igwe-Oke Forest and Ogboha Forest in Ovia South West, Owan East and Owan West Local Government Areas of Edo State.
A suspect, Sunday Segun, 39, was arrested during the operation on Friday, September 11.
In Ondo State, NDLEA officers, acting on credible intelligence, raided a residence along Oke-Iya, Ijoka Road, Akure, on Wednesday, September 9. During the operation, they recovered 186kg of skunk concealed in the boot of a Toyota Avalon car marked ABJ 917 FV.
The consignment was recovered from a 58-year-old suspect, Paul Ogbuwala, who was allegedly planning to transport it to Jos for onward distribution.
Similarly, a female suspect, Hannah Michael, was arrested at Gonin Gora in Kaduna State with 369.6kg of cannabis.
Elsewhere (Bayelsa State), four suspects, including 70-year-old Godwoman Gboriye, were arrested at Ovom, Yenagoa, with 110 bags of cannabis weighing 876kg. Other suspects apprehended were Motombo Silver, 44; Pere Andrew, 39; and Keme Andrew, 43.
In the same vein, the Agency’s Commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, communities, and other locations during the past week.
The activities included a WADA enlightenment lecture for students and staff of Mezube Islamiyya Academy, Tudun Wada, Kano; a WADA advocacy visit to the management of the Cross River State College of Health Technology, Calabar; and a visit by Rikkos traditional rulers to the NDLEA Academy in Jos to thank the Agency for allowing community members to use its clinic.
The Zone 4 Command of the NDLEA also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Shehu Chindo Yamusa III, in Keffi, Nasarawa State, among other activities.
Commenting on the seizures and arrests, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended the officers and personnel of DOGI, MMIA, and the Ondo, Edo, Delta, Kaduna, Plateau, Bayelsa and Kano Commands for their various successful operations.
Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to sustain the ongoing balanced approach to the Agency’s drug control efforts.
He also charged them to continue shutting down every pipeline being used by drug cartels, whether at airports, seaports, land borders or in the hinterland where cannabis is cultivated.
