NDLEA intercepts Saudi, UK-bound cocaine in lipsticks

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted cocaine consignments concealed in lipsticks and property title documents going to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, respectively.

According to the NDLEA, the illicit drug consignments were recovered from cargos being prepared for shipment at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday, 3rd July 2025, by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to the logistics firm.

This was made known in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.

Babafemi disclosed that a total of 420 grams of cocaine factory-fitted in 84 pieces of female lipsticks heading to the UK were seized, while 280 grams of the same Class A drug were uncovered in a property title document (Certificate of Occupancy, C of O) being sent to Saudi Arabia.

A notorious drug kingpin, Ajetsibo Emami, popularly known as ‘Warri Kinsman’, was on Saturday, 28th June, arrested in Ikeja, Lagos, after NDLEA operatives dismantled his drug trafficking network in a three-day operation leading to the arrest of three other suspects. Recovered from Emami’s network were 24 jumbo bags containing 681 pouches of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 414.2 kilograms.

The bust of Emami’s drug ring followed credible intelligence on his attempt to move the shipment to the Lekki area of Lagos, from where it would be distributed to other parts of the state and across the country.

A businessman, Ajah Johnson Uchenna, and his wife, Rosemary Uchenna, along with their two daughters: Stella Uchenna and Ngozi Uchenna, as well as their family friend, Okoro Elijah, have been taken into custody after investigation revealed they run a major illicit drug distribution network in Lagos. The couple was first arrested on Friday, 13th June, by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in the Ojo area of the state and transferred to NDLEA along with 277.5 kg of skunk.

While they were still being investigated in custody, credible intelligence revealed that the family business was going on in their house. This led to a raid of their home and a packing store where 231 kg of the same substance was recovered on Tuesday, 1st July. Three persons arrested during the raid include their two daughters: Ngozi Uchenna and Blessing Uchenna, as well as their family friend, Okoro Elijah, who were running the family business in the absence of the couple.

Meanwhile, NDLEA said its operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, intercepted a frequent flyer, Aburemi Hysent, who specialises in conveying goods for customers from Nigeria to Italy and vice versa.

According to the statement, the suspect was found to have hidden 7,660 pills of Tramadol 225mg and 200mg inside food items packed among other goods he was conveying to Italy.

He claimed he was to be paid the sum of 800 euros upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Italy.

In another interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, a total of 52 pieces of travellers’ cheques concealed in children’s books, worth 17,700,000 Australian dollars, going to Malaysia through Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, were on Friday, 4th July, intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the airport, while a freight agent, Bolarinwa Saheed, has been arrested.

The travellers’ cheques, suspected to be counterfeit, and the suspect will be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation.

While NDLEA officers at Seme border, Badagry, on Saturday, 5th July, recovered 718 big balls of skunk weighing 359 kg from a store in Baba-Pupa area of the border community, operatives on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja highway intercepted 10,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg and co-codamol as well as 1.050 kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, leading to the arrest of the owners of the waybilled drug consignments: Chinedu Odo, Samuel Ogbonna, and Kingsley Ugaji at Jabi Park in Abuja during follow-up operations.

In Osun State, two suspects: Agunbiade Folusho, 40, and Suleiman Dasola, 28, were arrested in the Ajegunle area of Osogbo on Thursday, 3rd July, with 13,901 pills and ampoules of different opioids recovered from them, while another suspect, Adebayo Adewale, 50, was nabbed at a patent medicine shop on Arubidi Street, Ile-Ife, with 48,205 pills of opioids.

A raid of a vulcanizer workshop at Akindeko Junction, Alekuwodo area of Osogbo on Tuesday, 1st July, led to the arrest of three suspects: Wasiu Ajadi, 45; Babatunde Jamiu Ojo, 35; and Yusuf Sarafadeen, 39, with 1,250 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 850 pills of Tramadol, and three bottles of codeine-based syrup.

Not less than 24,175 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on 9.67 hectares of cannabis farmland at Ikaka, Oke-Ila forest, Osun State, when NDLEA operatives raided the area, where seven suspects: Bunmi Adedapo, 41; Adebisi Sodiq, 26; Babatunde Gani, 22; John Sunday, 30; Israel Odabe, 29; Solomon Odabe, 21; and Prosper Odabe, 23, were arrested on Thursday, 3rd July.

In Borno, 167 kg of skunk was recovered at Gamboru-Ngala, while a total of 452 kg of the same psychoactive substance was seized at Gadar Tamburawa along the Zaria-Kano road, with two suspects: Nasuru Saleh and Mustapha Muhammad, arrested in connection with the seizure on Thursday, 3rd July.

While NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway recovered 11,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg from Sule Ibrahim Sadiq, 30, on Thursday, 3rd July, their counterparts in Sokoto arrested 62-year-old Joseph Onungene in connection with the seizure of 4,800 pills of Tramadol 225mg.

In Kebbi State, operatives raided the Bakin Kasuwa Yauri base, where they seized 312 kg of skunk and 10,000 tabs of diazepam. The duo of Chigbo Okolo, 52, and Ishaku Musa, 28, were on Saturday, 5th July, arrested with 49,930 capsules of Tramadol at Mallum, Ardo-Kola Local Council Area of Taraba State.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided the Ewere forest in Owan West LGA, where they arrested a wanted suspect, Alaba Monday, 49, in one of his cannabis farms with 115 kg of processed skunk, while three other suspects: Shamsu Abdullahi, Peter Egboko, and Justin John were nabbed in another farm measuring 2.050201 hectares.

A 78-year-old suspect, Mike Abeng, was arrested with 14.49 kg of skunk and Tramadol during a raid by NDLEA operatives at Ofudua, Obubra LGA, Cross River State. Others nabbed with different quantities of illicit substances during the operation include: Oyom Akam, 50; Sylvester Odem, 40; and Moses Ayo, 50, apprehended at Ovonum, Obubra LGA.

Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Lagos, Seme, Kogi, Osun, Borno, Kano, Edo, Kaduna, Cross River, Kebbi, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.

Marwa praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

NDLEA intercepts Saudi, UK-bound cocaine in lipsticks