From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized 3,500,000 opioid pills and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, valued at over N3.4 billion, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Lagos State.
On Tuesday, April 29, NDLEA officers, alongside Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted two million tafrodol 225mg pills and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup during a joint examination of a watch-listed container at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State. In Lagos, 1,500,000 opioid pills were recovered from suspect Olarenwaju Wahab in the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo on the same day. The consignment was traced to Q104B Road 25, Victoria Garden City, Lekki, the residence of Obinna Kenneth, who remains at large.
NDLEA operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a potent cannabis strain weighing 20kg, hidden in chocolate, Milo beverage, white kidney bean, and dark red kidney bean tins. The cargo arrived via a British Airways flight from Canada. Three suspects, including consignment receiver Monsurat Ewawunmi Lawson, were arrested between April 30 and May 3.
On Friday, May 2, businessman Bobby Morris Osas was arrested at Lagos airport while attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Italy. A search of his luggage uncovered 8,130 tramadol pills (225mg, 200mg, and 100mg). On Monday, April 28, NDLEA’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) thwarted a syndicate’s attempt to ship 104 grams of tramadol and skunk in body cream bottles to Iraq via a Lagos courier company.
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives intercepted a commercial vehicle on the Kaduna-Zaria expressway on Saturday, May 3, recovering 942 explosives hidden in a sack. The suspect, 30-year-old Nura Sani Muhammad (alias Nura Hariji), was arrested, and NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) ordered the suspect and exhibits transferred to the appropriate security agency.
In Kano, five members of a syndicate led by Aminu Musa (alias Kadagi) were arrested on April 30, at Dangoro market, with 50 blocks of skunk weighing 21.6kg. In Edo State, a white Toyota bus carrying 314,020 pills of tramadol, rohypnol, diazepam, and exol-5, 638 bottles of codeine syrup, and 200 ampoules of pentazocine injection was intercepted in Uromi, Esan North-East, on May 1, 2025. Suspect Dare Adeyemo was detained.
In Anambra State, a Mazda bus (XA343TSE) was stopped at Agu-Awka junction on April 30, yielding 50,400 tramadol capsules, 500 co-codamol tablets, and 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection. Suspect Chinedu Eneh was arrested. In Niger State, a Mitsubishi truck (RBH 104 ZY) on the Kontagora-Mokwa road was searched on May 3, revealing 5,500 tramadol capsules and 2,300 ampoules of pentazocine injection. Suspect Yusuf Abubakar, 30, was apprehended.
After a 10-month investigation, NDLEA arrested 52-year-old Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, on April 26, for his role in importing 2,616,060 tramadol 225mg pills intercepted at Apapa seaport on July 28, 2024. A follow-up search of his Lekki home recovered 51 wraps of Canadian Loud weighing 34 grams.
NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) continued with sensitisation lectures, including at Al-Istiqama University, Kano, and Government Girls Junior Secondary School, Kankia, Katsina State.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd), NDLEA Chairman, commended the DOGI, MMIA, Lagos, Kano, PHPC, Kaduna, Anambra, Edo, Niger, and Apapa Commands for their arrests and seizures, praising all commands for balancing drug supply and demand reduction efforts.