NDLEA intercepts ₦10bn cocaine, loud, opioids at Lagos ports, arrests drug kingpin

By Adebola Isimijola, Lagos

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted illicit drugs valued at over ₦10 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and Apapa Seaport in Lagos, while dismantling drug trafficking syndicates with the arrest of suspected kingpins involved in attempts to smuggle cocaine and other narcotics to the United Kingdom.

The seizures, made between July 20 and July 24, 2026, were disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday, July 26, 2026, by the Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who said the operations formed part of the agency’s sustained crackdown on illicit drug trafficking across the country.

According to the statement, the agency arrested a 55-year-old businessman, Onuigbo Ndubisi Chinedu, after tracing him to a failed attempt to export 3.30 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed inside cartons of food items bound for the United Kingdom through the Lagos airport.

Babafemi said the cocaine shipment was intercepted on July 22, while investigations led to the arrest of three cargo agents and another suspect before Onuigbo, identified as the alleged kingpin of the syndicate, was apprehended on July 23 as he attempted to send another cocaine consignment to the UK.

In a related operation, NDLEA operatives arrested Emmanuella Chukwu-Edo, 31, at her Surulere residence after intercepting 2.80 kilogrammes of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, imported from the United States aboard a United Airlines flight.

The agency also recovered 2.24 million pills of Tapentadol 250mg, valued at over ₦2.2 billion, from a cargo shipment that arrived from India aboard an Air Maroc flight. The seizure followed intelligence received by the agency and came shortly after operatives intercepted a tramadol consignment concealed in containers of black soap meant for export to the United Kingdom.

At the Apapa Seaport, NDLEA uncovered 4,777 sachets of Canadian Loud weighing 2,388.5 kilogrammes, with an estimated street value of over ₦7.1 billion, hidden inside three vehicles packed in a shipping container examined on July 20.

Outside Lagos, the agency recorded additional breakthroughs. In Katsina State, operatives arrested two suspects with hundreds of rounds of military-grade ammunition concealed during separate operations, while in Edo State they recovered 1,286 kilogrammes of cannabis, 86 kilogrammes of cannabis seeds, and arrested two suspects with additional quantities of skunk.

The NDLEA said its commands nationwide also sustained the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools and communities across Niger, Kano and Lagos states.

Commending the officers involved in the successful operations, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged them to remain steadfast in the agency’s anti-drug campaign.

He charged officers and men of the agency to “continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.”