The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered illicit substances hidden inside flight boarding passes.
In a post on X accompanied by images, the NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said operatives in Lagos recently discovered the unusual method used to disguise dangerous drugs.
He cautioned parents, guardians and the general public to be more vigilant, especially with items delivered by dispatch riders, noting that traffickers are increasingly using regular objects to avoid being caught.
“These may look like ordinary flight boarding passes, but hidden inside them are harmful substances such as Colos,” he wrote.
“This is one of the new techniques used to distribute illicit drugs across city centres, as uncovered by NDLEA operatives in Lagos.
“The merchants of death are becoming more creative with their packaging, but the NDLEA remains several steps ahead.”
Babafemi added in a statement on Sunday that the suspect, identified as Oluchi Celestine, was arrested in Lekki on November 18 with 2.6 kilogrammes of Colorado, a synthetic form of cannabis, packed in branded jars and some concealed inside boarding cards.
He said that on the same day, NDLEA personnel apprehended two members of a trafficking network in Onitsha, Anambra State, after they arrived to collect 5.40 kilogrammes of methamphetamine; 10.70 kilogrammes of Loud, a potent cannabis strain; 16 grammes of cocaine; 200 grammes of phenacetin; 200 grammes of methcathinone; and 100 grammes of caffeine, all hidden in pressure machine cylinders imported from South Africa.
“The first to show up at a logistics company in Onitsha for the collection of the consignments was 30-year-old electrical appliances dealer Ebulue Lotanwa Uzochukwu who was promptly arrested while shortly after, another member of the syndicate, 51-year-old South Africa returnee Christopher Michael Ndibuisi showed up and was equally arrested,” the statement reads.
“The consignments had arrived the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja-Lagos with airway bill number 118-12882973 arriving from South Africa on a Tag-Angola flight on 13th November 2025 and was immediately seized based on credible intelligence.
“A follow up sting operation was thereafter organized in Onitsha, Anambra state where the recipients: Uzochukwu and Ndibuisi were arrested.”
In another operation on November 20 at the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers seized a brake servo automobile component containing 48 pellets and a block of cocaine weighing 2.30 kilogrammes, hidden among car parts headed for Gabon.
“Following the arrest of a freight agent Ameh Solomon who presented the consignment for export, a follow up at ASMPDA market, Trade Fair Complex, Ojo Lagos led to the arrest of an auto parts dealer Nwafor Tochukwu Boniface,” the statement added.
“In Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on Monday 17th November intercepted a trailer conveying 4,700 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis at Kabba.
“Three suspects: Solomon Dauda, Friday Garba and Daniel Danladi accompanying the consignment were arrested while a follow up operation in Jos, Plateau state on Friday 21st November led to the arrest of the kingpin who owns the trailer and the illicit drug consignment, Marcus Danladi Dan Mangu.”
NDLEA chairman Buba Marwa praised the operatives and encouraged them and their counterparts across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
