Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 50-year-old widow and mother of one for allegedly attempting to traffic 1.3 kilogrammes of cocaine by faking a pregnancy to avoid detection.
The suspect, Mrs Ifeoma Ezewuike, proprietress of Golden Star Creation, a fashion business in Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, was apprehended on Friday, 22 August 2025, at a bus terminal in Jibowu, Yaba, while attempting to deliver the consignment to customers in Abuja.
A follow-up search of her residence in the Ago Palace area led to the recovery of 200 grammes of a cutting agent used in producing a cocaine variant.
According to NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Ezewuike claimed in her statement that she inherited the trade from her late husband, who died two years ago, despite having run a fashion business for over two decades.
In a separate operation, NDLEA officers intercepted 90 parcels of cannabis, known as loud, weighing 48.6kg. The drugs had been imported from the United States and concealed in three cartons of kitchen sinks at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday, 19 August.
Meanwhile, in Adamawa State, operatives raided the residence of notorious dealer Idris Garba in Yola South on Friday, 22 August. Although Garba escaped by scaling a fence, his associate, 55-year-old Boniface Nnaji, was arrested. From the premises, NDLEA recovered a Toyota Thundra jeep loaded with 354,480 tramadol pills, alongside a Toyota Yaris used in the operation.
Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives intercepted a suspect, Neche Okonkwo, at Idah waterside, Kogi State, on Wednesday, 20 August, with 5,000 tramadol capsules, 400 ampoules of pentazocine, and 200 ampoules of diazepam.
In Taraba State, officers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), destroyed 7,500kg of cannabis cultivated on three hectares of farmland at Dadin Kowa village, Bali, while 901kg was seized from a warehouse in Uzebba, Edo State. A 54-year-old woman, Fodo Stella Sunday, was arrested in connection with the case.
Further operations in Edo led to the destruction of 14,233.37kg of cannabis on four plantations covering 5.69 hectares at Ebule forest, Owan West. In Delta State, 25,500kg was destroyed on four plantations in Emu-Obiogu, Ndokwa West, on Thursday, 21 August, while in Ondo State, 25,025kg was eradicated from three farms at Asolo camp, Uso.
