The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of cocaine concealed in a local mortar and in the false bottom of a backpack meant for export to China and Italy, as part of a series of nationwide raids that also led to the arrest of a notorious drug dealer in Rivers State and a suspected supplier to bandits in Zamfara.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the agency said officers of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigations (DOGI) made the Lagos seizures on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at a logistics company. According to the statement, 250 grams of cocaine were factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar and packed in a carton for shipment to China. In a separate parcel, 500 grams of the same Class A drug were hidden in the false bottom of a backpack bound for Italy.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old notorious dealer, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, on Sunday, July 26, following credible intelligence. He was found in possession of various quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup.
In Anambra, officers on a stop-and-search operation at DMGS Roundabout, Onitsha, on Monday, July 27, intercepted a truck marked XK 131 BDG loaded with 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960kg. The truck driver, Chinedu Nwanze, 40, was arrested.
In Delta State, 331.84 kilograms of skunk were recovered from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale/Ughelli Expressway on Sunday, July 26.
In Nasarawa, a 64-year-old man, Joseph Nwaeke, was arrested on Tuesday, July 28, at Asso Angwan Muazu, Karu, with 68kg of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine.
In Zamfara, operatives on patrol along the Zaria-Gusau highway on Monday, July 27, intercepted Sani Umar, 27, conveying 7,400 pills of tramadol 225mg suspected to be supplies for criminal elements.
The agency said Commands across the country also intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization drive last week. Activities included enlightenment lectures at Hausawa Special Primary School, Kano; Royal Crown School, Oluyole, Ibadan; Government Secondary School, Ibi, Taraba; and for drivers at Challenge Bus Terminal Park, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Commending officers of DOGI and the Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Nasarawa, and Zamfara Commands, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to sustain what he described as the agency’s “balanced approach to drug control efforts.”
