Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested two Europe-bound Nigerian businessmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after they ingested and excreted a total of 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.460 kilograms.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that a body scan revealed foreign objects in the stomachs of the two men, who were travelling on flight AF 832.
Mr. Odife, who works in a factory in France, had arrived in Nigeria on 21 October for a short holiday. According to NDLEA, he admitted swallowing 110 wraps of cocaine, which he later excreted under observation. The wraps weighed 1.901 kg,” the NDLEA said.
His co-traveller, Mr. Blackborn, was also found to have swallowed cocaine. The NDLEA said he admitted ingesting 90 wraps, weighing 1.559 kg, which he subsequently excreted.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives, acting on actionable intelligence about the movement of skunk, a strong strain of cannabis from the Island to the Mainland, intercepted a white Volkswagen LT 28 bus along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, on Sunday, 25th October, where 537 kilograms of the psychoactive substance were recovered.
The same day, another team of officers intercepted a brown J5 bus along the Gbagada–Oshodi expressway, with 439 kilograms of the same substance seized.
In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 29th October, conducted a follow-up operation at Idere Road, Igboora, where two suspects: Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested while loading 554 kilograms of skunk into a Volvo truck for onward movement into town.
The operation targeted a notorious drug dealer known as ‘Omo Oba,’ who escaped arrest on 25th October when officers seized 309.5 kilograms of the strong cannabis strain popularly called ‘Ghanaian Loud’ that was linked to him.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Monday, 26th October, raided a location in the Tsamiya area of Gezawa, where they recovered 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilograms and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilograms.
Two days later, on Wednesday, 28th October, another team of officers stormed the Dorayi area of the state, where they arrested Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, with 19,250 pills of 225 mg tramadol weighing 13.6 kilograms.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja–Kaduna expressway have arrested a woman, Aisha Isah, at the toll gate with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition. On the Zaria–Kano expressway, a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 tablets of diazepam, and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.
In a raid at the Tashan Banke area of the state, officers also arrested seven suspects, including Faisal Adamu, and recovered 178.85 kilograms of cannabis alongside quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5, and pregabalin.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives on Sunday, 25th October, acting on credible intelligence, raided cannabis farms in Ijare forest, where they arrested four suspects, including Bassey Okon, 24; Abraham Edet, 20; and Oto Udo, 24. A total of 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilograms were recovered from the farms.
Similarly, a team of NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State, on Wednesday, 28th October 2026, where a cannabis plantation measuring 1.646 hectares, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilograms, was destroyed.
A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested at the camp with 301 kilograms of processed cannabis, while another 176 kilograms of the drug was recovered during the raid.
In Sokoto, operatives of Zone 7 Command of NDLEA, acting on credible intelligence, on Saturday, 31st October, arrested a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, with 236.6 kilograms of skunk.
With the same vigor, commands, and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centers, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week.
These include the WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Obawole Grammar School 11, Ojodu, Lagos; Nsukka High School, Nsukka, Enugu; Government Technical College, Dorayi Babba Rijiyar Zaki, Gwale LGA, Kano; and Ajagbe Comprehensive High School, Iperu, Ogun State, among others.
While commending the officers and men of NAIA, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo, and Edo Commands for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), noted that the interception of the two cocaine couriers at Abuja airport is a fresh warning to those who think they can use their residence abroad as cover to traffic drugs across Nigerian borders.
He said the agency’s officers at all entry and exit points remain alert and that there is no hiding place for anyone who chooses to risk their life and liberty by ingesting illicit drugs for a fee.
Marwa also charged officers and men of the agency across the country to sustain the current tempo against drug cartels while not relenting in their drug demand reduction efforts, including WADA sensitization activities in schools, worship centers, workplaces and communities.
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
