Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded a major breakthrough in its nationwide anti-narcotics operations with the arrest of a wanted female drug kingpin in Ibadan and the detention of 22 Indian nationals linked to a cocaine shipment intercepted at the Lagos seaport.
The suspected drug baron, 65-year-old Fatima Ilori, popularly known as Mama Kerosine, was arrested on Monday, December 29, 2025, in an intelligence-driven operation at the Onireke/Elekuro axis of Ibadan, Oyo State. Her arrest followed the seizure of 238.4 kilogrammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, allegedly connected to her distribution network. Another female suspect, Olusanya Abosede, 35, was apprehended alongside her.
At the Apapa port in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday, January 2, 2026, uncovered 31.5kg of cocaine concealed in hatch three of a merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, which sailed into Nigeria from the Marshall Islands. Twenty-two Indian crew members of the vessel, including the ship’s master, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, were taken into custody to aid ongoing investigations.
The latest operations also saw the interception of consignments of illicit drugs hidden in sachets of coffee mix and a book parcel destined for Zambia and the United Kingdom. The parcels, containing Ketamine, Ecstasy and Tramadol pills, were seized at a courier company in Lagos on December 24 and 29, 2025.
In Borno State, the Agency further disrupted drug supply routes to insurgents with the arrest of two suspects and the seizure of large quantities of narcotics. Isa Mohammed, 26, was arrested along the Maiduguri–Gamboru Ngala road with 9,150 ampoules of Tramadol injection, while Musa Samaila, 30, was apprehended at Biu market with 34,000 capsules of the same substance on Friday, January 2, 2026.
Elsewhere, NDLEA officers recovered no fewer than 400kg of skunk and a van at the Mobolaji Johnson area of Lagos on New Year’s Day. In Jigawa State, a suspect identified as Bilya Ibrahim, 39, was arrested at a motor park in Hadejia on December 30, 2025, while attempting to convey 260 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 140.8kg from Taraba State to Nguru in Yobe State.
Kwara State also witnessed significant seizures, as operatives on December 30 recovered 238.5kg of skunk from a residence in the Asadam area of Ilorin. Another suspect, Abubakar Rabiu, 32, was arrested at Bode Saadu in Moro Local Government Area on December 31 with 32,000 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam.
Beyond enforcement, NDLEA commands across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy, taking sensitisation messages to schools, youth groups, worship centres and communities. Recent outreach programmes were held in Katsina, Lagos and Niger states.
Commending the officers involved in the seizures and arrests, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel nationwide to sustain the momentum and intensify efforts to curb drug trafficking and abuse across the country.
