Blessing Bello, Reporting
IN a series of striking operations across Nigeria, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a large consignment of cocaine concealed inside the heads of imported dry stockfish, commonly known as “Okporoko.”
The agency also recovered fentanyl, methamphetamine, and morphine sulphate from UK-bound automobile parts, alongside the arrest of an 80-year-old grandfather in Ekiti state.
The cocaine bust followed intelligence on a syndicate’s trans-border criminal activities. Operatives from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Strategic Command staged a sting operation in the Ojo area of Lagos on Thursday 19th March 2026. During the raid, three jumbo-sized bags in the possession of the alleged kingpin, 36-year-old Akputa Dickson Ejike, were searched. Officers uncovered 237 wraps of cocaine, weighing 5.80 kilograms, buried inside stockfish heads. The consignment was destined for export to Delhi, India.
In a separate operation in Lagos on Wednesday 25th March, NDLEA’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted two illicit shipments heading to the United Kingdom at a courier company. One parcel, which originated from Cotonou in Benin Republic, contained 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in automobile filters. The second package held 40 ampoules of morphine sulphate and nine ampoules of fentanyl.
Meanwhile, a special operations unit raided the home of a female drug syndicate head, 46-year-old Omolade Abigail Jolayemi, at 13 Carter Street, Yaba, Lagos on Thursday 26th March. Known locally as ‘Iya Ghana’, she allegedly ran a drug distribution network between Nigeria and Ghana under the guise of selling local fabrics. Officers arrested her and her salesgirl, Sarah Zainab Agbabiaka, 31, seizing no fewer than 135 blocks of ‘Ghana Loud’ – a potent strain of cannabis – weighing 76.30 kilograms. On the same day, operatives also arrested Anayo Lucky Ohabiro, 39, at Doyin bus stop in Surulere, recovering 78 blocks of the same substance weighing 41 kilograms.
In Ekiti state, an 80-year-old grandfather, Oke Samuel, was arrested on Thursday 26th March during a special raid at Mosafuneto camp, Erinmo Road, Efon-Alaaye Ekiti. Officers recovered 2.2 kilograms of skunk and 1.8 grams of methamphetamine from him. Elsewhere, 894.72 kilograms of skunk were seized from another suspect, Enuwa Kehinde Kingsley, 37, during a raid on an uncompleted building at Ogbese in Akure North, Ondo state.
Further afield, 116.7 kilograms of skunk were recovered from suspect Saater Nyam, 35, during a raid at Pevi village in Guma LGA, Benue state, on Tuesday 24th March. In Edo state, operatives uncovered a warehouse in Ekpoma town on Monday 23rd March, arresting Felix Donald, 25, and seizing 576.5 kilograms of skunk alongside 33 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
In Taraba state, officers intercepted a truck marked DUT 457 ZB on Tuesday 24th March, which was conveying 100 blocks of compressed skunk weighing 135 kilograms hidden in bags of animal feed from Garbachede to Gombe state. Two suspects, Osama Mamuda, 21, and Auwal Umar, 22, were arrested.
The NDLEA also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign, delivering sensitisation lectures to schools across Cross River, Adamawa, Oyo, Kano, and Lagos states.
Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, commended officers from the MMIA, SOU, DOGI, and the Ekiti, Ondo, Benue, Edo and Taraba commands for their efforts.
He also praised their counterparts nationwide for striking a fair balance between drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction initiatives.
