Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two Togolese nationals and seized opioids and other illicit drugs valued at more than ₦3 billion in a week-long operation across several states
The agency identified the suspects as Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33. They were arrested on Saturday, September 26, 2026, on the Iganna–Ilero Road in Iganna, Oyo State, with 305.6 kilogrammes of skunk concealed in two pickup truck
The NDLEA said the vehicles were “used for cross-border trafficking racket, moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.”
In a statement on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said operatives at the import shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos uncovered a large opioid shipment on Tuesday, September 22, during a joint examination of three monitored consignments.
The seizure comprised 2.55 million pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55kg, the agency said. The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh via Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi State, operatives arrested Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass. They allegedly found 300 compressed blocks of skunk, weighing 262.5kg, hidden in a false-bottom compartment of a truck bearing registration number MUB757 YH.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp in Ilushi on Wednesday, September 23. The farms had an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg, according to the agency.
In Lagos, operatives arrested Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, during a raid on Anifowoshe Street in Mushin on Saturday. The officers recovered 3.4kg of skunk, the statement said.
On the same day, officers intercepted 58-year old Ugwu Johnson at Ebute-Ero motor park. The agency said he was carrying 5.92kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 nitrazepam tablets and 40,000 tramadol pills.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five men were arrested with 420 cartons of Nitrous Oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg.
The NDLEA also seized two vehicles allegedly used to transport the consignment from the border into Lagos.
The agency identified the suspects as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
