Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended a 74-year-old man at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja for allegedly attempting to traffic 11 kilograms of cocaine to the United Kingdom.
The agency also seized 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Sunday.
Babafemi explained that the elderly suspect, identified as Ikwuakalom Nwakoro Emeka, was arrested on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the departure hall of the Abuja airport while preparing to board a British Airways flight bound for London.
He stated that a search conducted on the suspect’s luggage uncovered blocks of cocaine weighing 11 kilograms hidden inside food items such as ground dry pepper, carefully packaged with foil papers and balloons.
In a separate operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence in the early hours of Monday, March 9, arrested a woman, Maryam Olalowo, at Ikad Hotel and Suites on Etim Inyang Street, Victoria Island, as she attempted to sell 89 grams of cocaine and 20 grams of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis.
He added that she was with her three children, including an infant, when she was apprehended. Investigations later showed that the drugs belonged to her husband, Ibrahim Olalowo Olatunji, who was arrested later that same day, while the woman was released.
During questioning, the husband reportedly admitted ownership of the drugs. Further investigations also revealed that he had previously been arrested, convicted and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for a similar offence in 2015.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Kalilou Simpara and Saidu Ibrahim, at Ebute Ero on Lagos Island, where 68,000 pills of tramadol (250mg and 225mg) were recovered after they had loaded the drugs into a truck and were preparing to transport them to the Benin Republic on Monday, March 9.
A follow-up operation carried out on Wednesday, March 11, at Idumota Market, Lagos Island, resulted in the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignment, Nnamdi Cyprian. A search of his shop revealed a parcel prepared for waybill delivery containing 1,000 tablets of tramadol.
Another raid at Idumota Market on Friday, March 13, led to the arrest of Nwanosike Kelvin and the recovery of 47,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection from his shop.
Meanwhile, in the Bebeji area of Kano, NDLEA operatives apprehended a 42-year-old suspect, Magaji Dan Azumi, with 386 kilograms of skunk on Tuesday, March 10.
Similarly, NDLEA officers in Abuja recovered 282.2 kilograms of skunk from a 42-year-old suspect, Isah Wako, during an operation in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory on Friday, March 13.
In Edo State, operatives raided the Egwa Forest Reserve in Aduhan village, Orhionmwon Local Government Area, where a suspect, Chinedu Odalonu, 33, was arrested. During the raid, two cannabis farms containing a total of 4,218.96 kilograms of skunk were destroyed, while 16.5 kilograms of the substance were recovered.
In another major seizure, NDLEA officers working with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies intercepted 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup in two containers at the Apapa seaport on Saturday, March 14. The containers had earlier been watch-listed by the agency following intelligence indicating that opioids were concealed inside them.
The agency also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign nationwide, delivering awareness lectures to students and staff of schools in Nasarawa, Oyo, Delta, Cross River and Edo states.
Commending the operatives involved in the operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, praised praised their counterparts across all commands in the country for maintaining a fair balance between drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
