Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted various consignments of illicit drugs, including Ketamine, Ecstasy, and Tramadol, concealed in sachets of coffee mix and book parcels heading to Zambia and the United Kingdom.
The seizures were made at a courier company in Lagos on 24th and 29th December 2025, highlighting the agency’s intensified efforts to dismantle drug supply chains.
According to a statement released by the NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja, the agency also took into custody 22 Indian crew members of the merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, following the seizure of 31.5 kilograms of cocaine at the GDNL terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos, on Friday, 2nd January 2026.
Those detained in connection with the discovery of the cocaine in hatch 3 of the ship, which originated from the Marshall Islands, include the Master of the Vessel, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, and 21 other crew members.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Oyo State arrested a wanted female drug kingpin, Fatima Ilori, popularly known as Mama Kerosine, during an intelligence-led operation in the Onireke/Elekuro area of Ibadan on Monday, 29th December 2025.
The 65-year-old grandmother, a major illicit drug distributor in the state capital, was apprehended alongside another female suspect, Olusanya Abosede, 35, following the seizure of 238.4kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis linked to her operations.
In Borno State, the agency disrupted the supply of drugs to insurgents with the arrest of two suppliers.
Isa Mohammed, 26, was apprehended following the interception of 9,150 ampoules of Tramadol Injection along Maiduguri-Gamboru Ngala Road on Friday, 2nd January, while Musa Samaila, 30, was arrested with 34,000 capsules of Tramadol at Biu Market the same day.
Other major seizures include 400kg of skunk recovered along with a van at Mobolaji Johnson area of Lagos on New Year’s Day, 1st January 2026.
In Jigawa State, Bilya Ibrahim, 39, was arrested at a motor park in Hadejia town on Tuesday, 30th December, while attempting to transport 260 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 140.8kg from Taraba State to Nguru, Yobe State.
In Kwara State, NDLEA officers recovered 238.5kg of skunk from a suspect’s home in Asadam, Ilorin, on Tuesday, 30th December, and seized 32,000 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam from another suspect, Abubakar Rabiu, 32, at Bode Saadu, Moro LGA, on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, 31st December.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended officers and men of the Apapa, Oyo, Borno, Lagos, Kwara, and Jigawa Commands for their arrests and seizures.
“I urge all our officers across the country to continue intensifying efforts in the War Against Drug Abuse,” he said, stressing the importance of disrupting the supply chains of illicit substances nationwide.
The agency also continued its sensitization and enlightenment activities across schools, workplaces, and communities, including lectures at Madrasatu Fadimatul Zahra Sabuwar Abuja in Kankia, Katsina, engagement with members of the Topo Youth Progressive Organisation in Topo, Badagry, Lagos, and outreach to residents of Madalla community at the palace of Hakimi Madalla in Niger State.
