Wanted drug kingpin arrested en route to Saudi Arabia as NDLEA raids his clandestine lab in Lagos

A wanted drug kingpin, 40-year-old Yussuf Abayomi Azeez, has been arrested by operatives of a special operations unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). He was apprehended at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, while attempting to travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, a holy pilgrimage. The arrest followed months of intelligence gathering and surveillance on him and his criminal activities.

The drug lord had previously been arrested and charged for drug offences in the United Kingdom but jumped bail and escaped to Nigeria. Soon after settling in Lagos, he established a massive clandestine laboratory in the Lekki area for the production of Colorado, a deadly synthetic cannabis, and other illicit substances.

At approximately 6:30 am on Thursday, 6 November 2025, Yussuf walked into the waiting hands of NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport. He was swiftly driven to his clandestine laboratory at 17 Vincent Eku Street, Ogombo, Lekki, which had been under surveillance. At the time of his arrest, Yussuf was accompanied by another suspect, 43-year-old Abideen Kekere-Ekun.

Inside the massive building, operatives from the Agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring dismantled all installed laboratory equipment, precursor chemicals, and produced illicit substances, including Colorado, with a total weight of 148.3 kilograms.

In a separate operation at the Sifax bonded terminal in Okota, Lagos, NDLEA operatives, in conjunction with the Customs Service and other security agencies, discovered 105.5kg of Molly, a designer drug, and 500 grams of methamphetamine during a joint examination of a shipment on Friday, 7 November.

In Niger state, NDLEA operatives intercepted a Volvo truck (registration GRZ 872 XA) along the Kainji-Wawa road on Thursday, 6 November. The driver, 35-year-old Ibrahim Mohammed, was conveying 87,000 pills of tramadol and 72kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis.

No fewer than 34,520 capsules of tramadol were found concealed in different compartments of a Toyota Corolla car (registration GAN 102 AR), which was intercepted along the Zaki-Biam – Wukari road on Monday, 3 November. The driver, 25-year-old Aliyu Samaila, was arrested. The opioids, loaded from Onitsha, Anambra State, were destined for Cameroon. In another operation in Taraba, NDLEA officers arrested 28-year-old Felix Tanko Chinedu with 15,020 capsules of tramadol at Kasuwabera ATC in Ardo Kola LGA on Thursday, 6 November.

In Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Okene/Lokoja highway intercepted a consignment of 7.600kg of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, on Wednesday, 5 November. A follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of the owner, 40-year-old Chukwunonso Anieze. Later that same day, no fewer than 175,000 pills of opioids were recovered from another consignment at the same location.

Three suspects—Olayide Oyidiran, 39; Abdulsalam Abdulsalam, 28; and Opeyemi Tijjani, 39—were arrested on Wednesday, 5 November at the Abuja/Kaduna tollgate. They were found with 769kg of skunk being transported in a truck (registration TRE 897 BE) from Lagos, en route to Owo in Ondo state, and heading to Kano.

A 73-year-old grandfather, James Ugbedo, was arrested on Friday, 7 November in a cannabis plantation at Igbeshi forest, Imiakebo, Etsako East LGA, Edo state. At the site, 1,459.75kg of skunk was destroyed and 5.6kg of the same substance was evacuated. In a similar case, 70-year-old grandmother Mrs. Comfort Odudu was nabbed at Onopa, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, with 5kg of skunk on Tuesday, 4 November.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities over the past week. These included WADA sensitisation lectures for students and staff of Transfiguration Seminary Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Day Secondary School, Sabonkasuwa Kontagora, Niger state; Immanuel College High School (Snr), Ibadan, Oyo State; Government Girls Secondary School, Ilelah, Sokoto; Government Day Secondary School, Namtari, Adamawa; and for NURTW leaders and members in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of the SOP, DFCM, Tincan, Edo, Taraba, Kaduna, Kogi, Niger, and Bayelsa Commands for their various successful operations, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the Agency’s drug control efforts.

“The dismantling of yet another clandestine laboratory for the production of Colorado and other dangerous synthetic substances, and the arrest of the kingpin behind it in Lekki, coming barely a week after similar actions were taken against another cartel in Ajao Estate, Lagos, shows that these are no doubt the first in a series of strikes against the merchants of death who prey on the weak in our communities. Let it be known to those still hiding in the dark that the NDLEA, supported by our local and international law enforcement partners, will continue to hunt them and bring them to justice,” Marwa added.