Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested suspected drug traffickers, including a 22-year-old man accused of supplying illicit substances to bandits in Kano State.
The arrest was part of a series of nationwide operations that also thwarted a cocaine export attempt to Saudi Arabia.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, April 20, 2025.
According to the Babafemi, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Bichi-Kano Road on Sunday, April 13, intercepted one Muhammad Mohammed while heading to Katsina with 277 ampoules of pentazocine injection strapped to his thigh and private parts using cellotape.
The suspect was allegedly supplying the drugs to bandits operating in the Northern part of the country.
That same day, another suspect, Mohammed Abdulrahman Abdulaziz, 43, was arrested in the Research Rimin Kebe area of Nasarawa, Kano, with 68 blocks of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 30 kilograms.
In a related development, the agency foiled an attempt to smuggle cocaine to Saudi Arabia through a courier company in Lagos.
The consignment, weighing 500 grams and concealed in the pages of 20 religious books, was intercepted on Tuesday, April 15, by operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) during routine cargo screening.
On the same day, officers at another courier firm in Lagos intercepted five parcels of “Loud,” a strong variant of cannabis, weighing 2.8 kilograms, concealed in a carton sent from the United States.
In Bayelsa State, NDLEA operatives raided a house along Major General Isaiah Allison Street in Opolo, Yenagoa, on Wednesday, April 16, and recovered 557.2 kilograms of skunk, 5.6 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 29.8 grams of heroin.
Four suspects including Sarimiye Suwa Kurtis (46), Roland Prosper (34), Sarimiye Tare Paul (45), and Fidelis Ugbesla (46) were arrested during the operation.
In the Surulere area of Lagos, a delivery van was apprehended on Thursday, April 17 with 1,100 kilograms of skunk, leading to the arrest of the driver, Ismail Abdullahi.
A separate raid in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Friday, April 18, led to the arrest of Ike Ani, 30, and the recovery of 31,950 pills of tramadol 225mg and diazepam.
In Kebbi State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Bagudo road intercepted a vehicle transporting 97 kilograms of skunk concealed in sacks of charcoal.
The vehicle was coming from Malabil in Benin Republic. Three suspects—Abubakar Ibrahim (50), Mustapha Aliyu (32), and Bashar Lawali (28) were arrested in connection with the illicit drug.
In Anambra State, a 48-year-old suspect, Okafor Marcel, was arrested with 11.5 kilograms of skunk in Abatete, while in Osogbo, Osun State, 27-year-old Ajala Mercy was apprehended on April 15 after operatives recovered 43 litres of “skushi”, a cocktail of black currant, cannabis, and opioids from her residence in Dada Estate.
In Edo State, two cannabis farms were raided in Egbeta Forest of Ovia North East local government area where the NDLEA destroyed over 3,700 kilograms of cannabis plants cultivated on 1.4 hectares and recovered an additional 136.5 kilograms of processed cannabis.
At the Tincan Seaport in Lagos, operatives arrested 40-year-old Basorun Usman Kayode, a suspect linked to the 2023 seizure of 107 kilograms of Loud smuggled from Canada.
Another suspect, Dauda Yakubu, was arrested for allegedly distributing drugs within the seaport community.
NDLEA’s Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers across the affected commands for their efforts in both drug supply reduction and demand reduction strategies.
The anti-narcotic agency urged the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious drug-related activities to aid its ongoing nationwide campaign.
