Dare Babalola
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the interception of illicit substances, including Ketamine, Ecstasy, and Tramadol pills, concealed in sachets of coffee mix and a book parcel destined for Zambia and the United Kingdom.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi revealed that the Lagos seizures, made on December 24 and 29, 2025, at a courier company, coincided with the agency’s detention of 22 Indian crew members of the merchant vessel MV Aruna Hulya. The vessel was intercepted at the GDNL terminal, Apapa port Lagos, on January 2, 2026, with 31.5kg of cocaine seized.
According to the statement, those detained in connection with the discovery of the 31.5kg cocaine in hatch 3 of the ship which originated from Marshall Islands, include the Master of the Vessel, Sharma Shashi Bhushan and 21 other crew members, namely, Bharati Manoj Kumar; Bhalerao Nilesh Mukund; Nadar Anthony Macson David; Kolusu Srinivasa Rao; Sagar Gaurav; Francis Anto Beemas Nester; Jagdeep Singh; Jai Parkash and Prabhukhan Singh.
The rest are, Nevage Sandesh Suresh; Pandey Prashant; Nittu Anand; Akash Babu; Dasari Raju; Reddy Nandika Sanjeeba; Rana Nivesh; Melethil Insaf Rahman; Barla Chantanya Krishna; Ghosh Arijit; Mondal Raihan; and Gangwar Shiv Om.
Similarly, NDLEA said its operatives in Oyo state on Monday arrested a wanted female drug kingpin who is a major illicit drug distributor in Ibadan, the state capital.
The 65-year-old grandma, Fatima Ilori, popularly known as Mama Kerosine was nabbed in an intelligence-led operation following the seizure of 238.4kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, linked to her.
She was arrested along with another female suspect Olusanya Abosede, 35, at Onireke/Elekuro area of Ibadan.
In Borno state, the supply chain of illicit drugs to insurgents was further disrupted with the arrest of two suppliers and seizure of large consignments of illicit substances.
While one of the suspects, Isa Mohammed, 26, was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the interception of 9,150 ampoules of Tramadol Injection along Maiduguri-Gamboru Ngala road on Friday 2nd January 2026, the other suspect Musa Samaila, 30, was nabbed with 34,000 capsules of Tramadol at Biu market same day.
Not less than 400kg skunk was recovered along with a van at Mobolaji Johnson area of Lagos on new year day, Thursday 1st January, while a suspect Bilya Ibrahim, 39, was arrested at a motor park in Hadejia town, Jigawa State on Tuesday 30th December 2025 while trying to transport 260 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 140.8kg, which he procured from Taraba State to Nguru, Yobe State.
In Kwara state, NDLEA officers on Tuesday 30th December recovered 238.50kg skunk from the home of a suspect at Asadam area of Ilorin, while a total of 32,000 pills of tramadol and diazepam were seized from another suspect Abubakar Rabiu, 32, at Bode Saadu, Morro LGA, on new year eve, Wednesday 31st December 2025.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Apapa, Oyo, Borno, Lagos, Kwara and Jigawa Commands for the arrests, and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to intensify the ongoing drug control efforts of the Agency.
