Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) have intercepted illicit drugs valued at over N3.4 billion in Lagos and Rivers, just as it also uncovered a cache of 942 explosives in a breakthrough in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Sunday, May 4, 2025 said, 2m pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, were recovered on April 29 during a joint examination of a watch-listed container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service, and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
He added that in Lagos, a total of 1,500,000 pills of a controlled opioid were recovered at the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo.
The statement partly read, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted no fewer than three million five hundred thousand (3,500,000) pills of opioids and one hundred and sixty-three thousand (163,000) bottles of codeine syrup with combined street value of over three billion, four hundred and twenty-eight million naira (N3,428,000,000.00) in Port Harcourt, Rivers state and Lagos state.
The bulk of the seizures: two million pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, was made on Tuesday 29th April 2025 during a joint examination of a watch-listed container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
“In Lagos, a total of 1,500,000 pills of a controlled opioid were recovered from a suspect Olarenwaju Wahab at the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo on Tuesday 29th April while the source of the consignment was traced to Q104B Road 25, Victoria Garden City, Lekki, which is the residence of one Obinna Kenneth who is now at large.”
Babafemi noted that in Kaduna State, where a routine patrol along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway on May 3 led to the interception of a commercial vehicle from Nasarawa.
He said a search revealed 942 explosives hidden in a sack.
“In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kaduna – Zaria expressway on Saturday 3rd May intercepted a commercial vehicle coming from Nasarawa State heading to Zamfara State.
“A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a total of Nine Hundred and Forty-Two (942) explosives concealed in a sack and the subsequent arrest of a 30-year-old suspect Nura Sani Muhammad (alias Nura Hariji),” he said.
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Babafemi also said at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, NDLEA operatives intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a potent cannabis strain, concealed in food tins aboard a British Airways flight from Canada.
He added that three suspects, including the receiver, Monsurat Lawson, were arrested between April 30 and May 3.
In a separate incident at the Lagos airport on May 2, Babafemi said a businessman Bobby Morris Osas was arrested while attempting to travel to Italy with over 8,000 pills of tramadol.
“Similarly, on April 28, NDLEA officers foiled an attempt to export drugs to Iraq through a courier company, seizing 104 grams of tramadol and skunk hidden in bottles of body cream, ” he added.
n a major breakthrough following a 10-month investigation, NDLEA operatives apprehended Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, the 52-year-old Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, over his role in importing over 2.6 million tramadol pills through the Apapa port in July 2024.
A raid on his Lekki residence also yielded 51 wraps of Canadian Loud.
“After 10 months of painstaking investigation, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 26th April arrested a wanted drug kingpin, the 52-year-old Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku over his involvement in the importation of a consignment of 2,616,060 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted by NDLEA at Apapa seaport in Lagos on 28th July 2024.
“A follow-up operation at his house in Lekki led to the seizure of 51 wraps of Canadian Loud weighing 34 grams,” the statement noted. The agency also made significant arrests in Kano, Edo, Anambra, and Niger states, seizing hundreds of thousands of opioid pills, bottles of codeine syrup, ampoules of pentazocine injection, and cannabis from multiple suspects.
