Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 74-year-old-grandfather, Ikwuakalom Nwakoro Emeka, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with a large consignment of cocaine in foil papers and balloons concealed in his luggage.
The septuagenarian, who claimed he was travelling to London, United Kingdom (UK) for vacation, was arrested at the Departure Hall of the Abuja airport while attempting to board a British Airways flight BA082 to Heathrow London on Saturday, March 14, 2026.
During a search of his luggage, blocks of cocaine weighing 11 kilogrammes were discovered concealed inside food items, including ground dry pepper, carefully wrapped in foil papers and balloons.
Also in Lagos, the NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence in the early hours of Monday, March 9, 2026, arrested a woman, Mrs Maryam Olalowo, at Ikad Hotel and Suites on Etim Inyang Street, Victoria Island, while attempting to sell 89 grammes of cocaine and 20 grammes of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis. She was found with her three children, including an infant, at the time of the arrest.
She, however, confessed that the illicit drugs belonged to her husband, Ibrahim Olalowo Olatunji, who was later taken into custody the same day while his wife was immediately set free.
Ibrahim confirmed ownership of the illicit drugs in his statement, and further investigation revealed that he had previously been arrested, convicted, and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for a similar offence in 2015.
In another interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects: Kalilou Simpara and Saidu Ibrahim, at Ebetu-Ero in Lagos Island where they recovered 68,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 225mg after loading the exhibits into their truck and preparing to transport them to Benin Republic on Monday, March 9, 2026.
A follow-up operation was conducted on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at Idumota market, Lagos Island, where the actual owner of the consignment, Nnamdi Cyprian, was arrested.
A search of his shop led to the discovery of a parcel already prepared for waybill delivery, containing 1,000 tablets of tramadol 250mg. Another raid at Idumota market on Friday, March 13, 2026, led to the arrest of Nwanosike Kelvin and the recovery of 47,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection from his shop.
While a 42-year-old Magaji Dan Azumi was arrested at Bebeji area of Kano with 386kg of skunk on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, NDLEA officers in Abuja recovered 282.2kg of skunk from a suspect, Isah Wako, 42, in Gwagwalada area of the FCT on Friday, March 13, 2026.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided the Egwa Forest Reserve in Aduan Village, Orhionmwon Local Council where a suspect, Chinedo Odalonu,33, was apprehended and a total of 4,218.96 kilogrammes of skunk destroyed on two farms with 16.5kg of the same substance recovered.
About 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted in two containers at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Saturday, March 14, 2026 during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies.
The containers had earlier been watch-listed by NDLEA following credible intelligence on concealment of opioids in them.
While commending the officers and men of the airport, Lagos, Kano, Edo and FCT Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), while commending the officers and men of the airport, Lagos, Kano, Edo and FCT Commands of the agency, for the arrests and seizures of the past week, also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
In this article