NDLEA intercepts N6.5bn opioids in Lagos, Rivers ports, nabs two Britons

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted no fewer than six million pills of opioids, namely tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg, and carisoprodol 225mg, as well as 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, with a combined street value of ₦6,524,000,000.00, at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers, and the Apapa seaport, Lagos.

According to an NDLEA statement on Sunday, the seizures at the Apapa and Onne ports followed intelligence and tracking of new trafficking routes used by drug cartels to ship illicit substances into Nigeria. This necessitated the watch-listing of the containers for 100 per cent examination.

At the Port Harcourt ports, six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup were uncovered in two containers on 19 and 20 May 2025 during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers, alongside personnel from the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.

At the Apapa port in Lagos, a total of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a watch-listed container by NDLEA operatives during a similar joint examination exercise on Thursday.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives have arrested two British nationals, Mhizha Jordan Alexander Tatendra and Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, as well as two Nigerians, Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, for attempting to smuggle 92 bags of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 51.10kg, into Nigeria via Lagos International Airport.

The statement, signed by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, stated that Alexander was intercepted with the consignment upon his arrival at Lagos Airport on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha on 15 May, based on processed intelligence.

He was allowed to pass through security control unhindered and was closely monitored by NDLEA operatives to the car park, where the owner of the cargo, Nigerian-British national Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, was waiting in an SUV with his relative, Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole, and the vehicle’s driver, Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, to receive the courier.

However, NDLEA operatives tracking them swooped in as they attempted to drive out of the airport car park, arresting them and seizing the drug exhibits in the vehicle.

In his statement, Alexander confessed that he had been recruited during his vacation weeks earlier and had been promised £1,300 upon the successful delivery of the consignment in Lagos. The syndicate’s leader, Adejuwon, admitted that he had arrived in Nigeria a day earlier from South Africa via Ghana.

A follow-up operation at their apartment in Lekki led to further discoveries. Upon his arrest, ₦93,000 and 17,200 South African Rand were recovered from Adejuwon, while a search of his Lekki apartment led to the seizure of ₦3.8 million in cash, an Apple laptop, an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and four laughing gas (nitrous oxide) canisters.

A total of 75,000 kilograms of skunk was destroyed on 30 hectares of cannabis farms by NDLEA operatives at Esuk-Odot village in Odukpani LGA, Cross River State, where 200kg of the same substance was recovered on 22 May. Meanwhile, 1,957.5kg of the same psychoactive plant was destroyed at Ohosu Forest, Ovia South West LGA, and Okhuse Community Forest, Owan West LGA, Edo State, on Friday and Saturday.

In Nasarawa State, two suspects, Sunday Daniel and Abu Peter, were arrested in Keffi by NDLEA operatives on Saturday, when 4,000 kilograms of skunk were discovered concealed under unprocessed wood in their lorry. Another suspect, Godwin Obi, was nabbed in Karu with 154.5kg of the same substance on 21 May.

In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway at Gwargwaje on 21 May intercepted 22-year-old Muhammad Hamza with 57,750 pills of tramadol and diazepam. On the same day, their counterparts in Bauchi arrested Usman Muhammad along the Bauchi-Misau road with 80 blocks of skunk weighing 45kg.

Similarly, operatives conducting stop-and-search operations along the Potiskum–Damaturu road in Yobe State intercepted 55 parcels of Colorado, weighing 2kg, which a suspect, Adum Muhammed, was attempting to smuggle into the Republic of Chad via the Ngamboru Ngala border town in Borno State.

In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday intercepted a Mercedes-Benz car, marked FST 938 FU, loaded with 235 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 97kg, and arrested a suspect, Adams Ayibakro.

Meanwhile, operatives in Lagos State raided the Osapa London area of Lekki, where they arrested a suspect, Jonathan Isa, with various quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, molly, Rohypnol, codeine, cannabis, and nitrous oxide. Another raid at Idasun, Eleko, Ibeju Lekki, on Saturday, led to the arrest of Olamilekan Idowu and the seizure of 48kg of skunk.

Commending the officers and men of the various NDLEA commands for their arrests and seizures over the past week, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), praised their counterparts across the country for maintaining a fair balance between drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

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