ABUJA — The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its nationwide fight against drug trafficking, arresting a notorious kingpin after 13 years on the run and apprehending several other suspects across multiple states, including a foreign national, while seizing large quantities of illicit substances.
In a statement on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said operatives arrested the wanted drug lord at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, following a string of investigations into cocaine and heroin consignments linked to him.
The suspect, who first faced charges in 2013 over cocaine shipments into Nigeria, jumped bail after being granted release by Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
“His name resurfaced in February 2024 as one of the masterminds behind the shipment of 49.70 kilograms of heroin imported from South Africa, which was intercepted at the Lagos airport,” Babafemi said.
A subsequent raid on February 19, 2024, at the Golden Platinum Hotel & Suites in Lagos led to the recovery of an additional 2.20 kilograms of heroin from a guest, prompting the suspect to go underground.
NDLEA had since secured interim forfeiture of his hotel and blocked all traced bank accounts.
Unable to sustain himself in hiding, the suspect surrendered to the agency on February 13, 2026, and is now facing pending charges from 2013, as well as fresh charges relating to the 2024 heroin consignments.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Imo State dismantled a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Isiozi Obiato, Umuaka, Njaba local government area, seizing 18.4 kilograms of meth along with precursor chemicals and production equipment.
The crackdown also saw the arrest of a Togolese woman at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, after officers intercepted 5,000 Tramadol pills concealed in her luggage.
Other seizures included 1,040 kilograms of skunk cannabis recovered from an unfinished building in Akodo village, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos; 1,499 bottles of codeine syrup found in Kano State; 87.4 kilograms of skunk transported along Zaria-Dutsinma road in Katsina; and 18.085 kilograms of skunk seized in Osogbo, Osun State.
In total, NDLEA operatives recovered no fewer than 637,600 pills of opioids, including tramadol, diazepam, and Exol-5 during coordinated intelligence-led operations across the country. Additional seizures included 126.022 kilograms of skunk in Taraba, 499.2 kilograms of skunk in the Federal Capital Territory, and 7,000 capsules of tramadol along Bama-Konduga road in Borno State.
Babafemi further highlighted that the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities continued nationwide, with sensitization lectures delivered to students and staff of institutions such as Government Girls Science Secondary School, Tungan Magajiya in Niger, Federal Government College, Odo Oru in Oyo, Government Day Senior Secondary School, Fagam in Jigawa, and Government Science College, Esuk Ekpoeyo in Cross River State.
“These operations demonstrate NDLEA’s unwavering commitment to dismantling drug trafficking networks, securing dangerous substances, and educating the public about the perils of drug abuse,” Babafemi said.
