NDLEA Nabs Woman Posing As Medical Tourist To Smuggle Cocaine To India

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested at least 21 suspects and seized over 4,600kg of assorted illicit drugs in a nationwide crackdown conducted between Monday, June 16 and Saturday, June 21, 2025.

The seizures include 2.2kg of cocaine, 6.9kg of skunk, 59g of methamphetamine, over 1.01 million opioid pills, 850g of cocaine at a courier centre, 1.3 kilograms of Loud, and the destruction of 4,226.11kg of cannabis during forest raids in Edo State.

Traffickers were apprehended at airports, highways, forest camps, courier firms, and student residences, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, revealed on Sunday.

He said, “On Monday, June 16, NDLEA operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, arrested 43-year-old make-up artist, Adekoya Adebukonla Mary, who claimed she was travelling to India for fibroid surgery.

“She was apprehended after 2.20 kilograms of cocaine were discovered factory-fitted in the walls of her suitcase at the point of boarding a Qatar Airways flight to India via Doha.”

According to her statement, she embarked on the trip for financial reasons while posing as a medical tourist.

Investigations revealed that she was allegedly recruited and financed by an alleged drug baron called “Akeem Ayinde Adekanbi” who is currently at large.

Babafemi identified Adekanbi as the owner of Rockford Hotel in Sango, Ogun State, and a resident of Igbe Laara, Igbogbo area of Ikorodu, Lagos.

Also on June 16, NDLEA officers in Bauchi State arrested Ibrahim Galadima, 37, and Ibrahim Muhammed, 28, along the Bauchi–Darazo road, recovering “1,013,000 pills of opioids, including tramadol, diazepam, and exol-5.”

On Tuesday, June 17, NDLEA operatives along the Kaduna–Zaria expressway arrested Bishir Isyaku, 38, at Gwargwaje with 14.2kg of skunk concealed in two sacks of charcoal, along with seven cartons of rubber solution weighing 198kg.

The next day, Wednesday, June 18, two separate operations took place, at a courier firm in Lagos.

NDLEA officers intercepted “850 grams of cocaine cleverly concealed in cloth hangers headed to Australia”.

Meanwhile, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, operatives arrested Murtala Adamu, Ahmed Ismai’l, and four others in coordinated raids at Karu Abattoir and Torabora.

The operatives recovered “6.9kg of skunk and 59 grams of methamphetamine during the bust”.

On Thursday, June 19, NDLEA agents at another Lagos courier company intercepted a “shipment of sewn female dresses laced with 1.3kg of Loud, en route to Bahrain”.

In Kano State, operatives on patrol along the Zaria–Kano road arrested Umar Hamisu, 19, and Dahiru Abdullahi, 32, with 56.2kg of skunk. Another suspect, Obiwuru Henry, 27, was arrested on Jaba Road in Fagge LGA with “23,720 capsules of tramadol and 1,400 ampoules of pentazocine”.

Also on June 19 in Kwara State, NDLEA officers “arrested 22-year-old Olotin Nifemi, a student of Kwara State Polytechnic, alleged to be selling drugs to fellow students.”

She was apprehended along Kwara Poly Road, Ilorin, with 1kg of skunk.

Simultaneously in Edo State, NDLEA agents raided Big Jamaya Supermarket in Emado community, Esan West LGA, arresting Esther Abumere, 28, and recovering quantities of “Colorado, Loud, Molly, Tramadol, and other opioids”.

On Friday, June 20, NDLEA operatives carried out a large-scale raid on Ugbada Camp in the Uzebba forest, Owan West LGA, Edo State, “destroying 4,226.11kg of skunk cultivated on cannabis farms”.

One suspect, Albert Shamaki, 33, was apprehended at the site. Another raid at Idumeka in Igueben led to the arrest of Eko Gift, 38, and the “seizure of 1.143kg of skunk from her provision shop”.

The following day, Saturday, June 21, NDLEA agents in Kano arrested Abubakar Modu, 60, with “36.6kg of skunk, and Abdulkadir Muhammed, 28, with 32kg of the same drug along the Zaria–Kano road”.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of MMIA, DOGI, and the various state commands—Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Edo, and FCT for their efforts.

He also applauded other commands across the country for maintaining a balanced focus on both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction operations.

NDLEA Nabs Woman Posing As Medical Tourist To Smuggle Cocaine To India is first published on The Whistler Newspaper