Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have confiscated 12 sizeable parcels of cocaine hidden within false compartments of food flasks, destined for the United Kingdom aboard a Virgin Atlantic flight from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The shipment, weighing 2.80 kilogrammes in total, was recovered on Thursday, April 9, 2026, by NDLEA personnel at the airport’s export section. Two cargo handlers, Ama Obinna Ufeim, 33, and Ogabi Monday Akorede, 39, were taken into custody. Further probes revealed a 52-year-old freight agent, Agoro Tajudeen Moninuola, as the originator of the consignment. He was subsequently arrested during a follow-up operation.
In another development, NDLEA officials at the import section of the Lagos airport on Wednesday, April 8, intercepted 2.90 kilogrammes of Loud, a strong variant of cannabis concealed inside snack packs. The consignment was flown in from the United States via a Delta Airlines flight. Two clearing agents, Animashaun Moshood Adetunji and Mercy Gabriel Oluwasegun, were initially detained. The consignee, Saheed Adeshina Adegoke, a 29-year-old fashion designer, was later arrested at 3 Oba Ogunji Road, Ogba, Lagos, on Monday, April 13.
In Kaduna State, NDLEA officers conducting patrols along the Kaduna–Zaria highway at Gwargwaje, Zaria, on Monday, April 13, intercepted a truck transporting cement to Hadeja in Jigawa State. A thorough search led to the discovery of 760 blocks and 33 large sacks of skunk, weighing 847 kilogrammes. The driver, Umar Garba Haruna, 33, was apprehended.
In Cross River State, a 53-year-old woman, Alice Sunday Udoh, was arrested on Thursday, April 16, after NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, stormed a forest in Uwet community, Akamkpa Local Government Area. During the raid, 15,000 kilogrammes of skunk cultivated across six hectares of farmland were destroyed, while 119 kilogrammes were recovered.
Another cannabis plantation was dismantled on Tuesday, April 14, at Saboro Camp, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. NDLEA officers destroyed 2,281.43 kilogrammes of the substance. Three suspects — Nweke Smart, 27; Christopher Egbe, 62; and Monday Ayan, 45 — were arrested. Christopher and Ayan were found with 38.5 kilogrammes of cannabis and seeds.
In Delta State, two individuals, Sunday Odili, 49, and Ijenebe Joshua, 39, were arrested with 87.838 kilogrammes of skunk and seeds at the Powerline area of Okwo on Friday, April 17.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives apprehended Chinedu Ogbekene and Zindozin Aloukou Bienvenu on Wednesday, April 15, at Mile 2 along the Lagos–Badagry Expressway. The suspects were conveying 11,900 capsules of tramadol and 400 ampoules of phenobarbital injection in a truck heading to Ghana. On the same day, officers raided a two-storey building in Petti, Lagos Island, recovering 95.8 kilogrammes of skunk.
