Foils N5bn Loud, codeine shipments at Lagos, Onne ports
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Milan-bound businessman, Philip Tunde, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, with 4.80kg of cocaine hidden in shoe soles and the railings of travel bags.
The 38-year-old was picked up on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at the joint screening point of Terminal 2, ahead of his Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy.
A search recovered 16 parcels concealed in the soles of eight pairs of trainers and canvas shoes, and 195 wraps hidden in the railings of four bags. All tested positive for cocaine.
Tunde told investigators he paid N16 million in cash for the drug in the shoes, while the consignment in the bags was meant for his partner in Italy.
He said he raised the money from compensation paid to him after he lost the tips of two fingers in an accident at a plastic manufacturing company there.
At the Apapa, Tincan Island and Onne ports, the agency also intercepted container consignments of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, and codeine-based syrup worth over N5 billion.
The operations followed months of intelligence work and tracking of the shipments from their ports of origin.
Apapa, Lagos: Officers examined two containers from Bangkok, Thailand, with Customs and other stakeholders.
One yielded 161 parcels of Thai Loud weighing 124kg, worth N372 million, hidden in two refrigerators and two cartons.
Meanwhile, at Onne, Rivers State, two watch-listed containers were jointly examined.
Operatives found 40 packs of Loud weighing 22kg in a travelling bag and in three of five vehicles (a Toyota Matrix, a Toyota Corolla and a Hyundai Elantra) shipped in the first container.
The second held 109,600 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup weighing 16,440kg. The container left India for Saudi Arabia, where its origin records were deleted to avoid detection. The two consignments have a combined street value of N833.2 million.
At Tincan Island, Lagos: A watch-listed container from Montreal, Canada, was examined on Tuesday, September 29. Operatives recovered 2,595 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 1,297.5kg, hidden in a Toyota Sienna, a Hyundai Elantra, 24 blue drums and six jumbo bags. The consignment is worth over N3.8 billion.
On Wednesday, September 30, NDLEA operatives destroyed 20,234kg of skunk on an 8.0936-hectare farm in Area 4, Ife South Local Government Area of Osun State.
In Plateau State, a suspect, Agbo Dennis, 41, was arrested on Tuesday, September 29, at West of Mines, Jos North, with 33 bags of skunk weighing 385kg.
In Lagos, operatives raided an unoccupied compound at Divine Estate, Ago Palace, on Monday, September 28, and recovered 209,000 tablets of tramadol.
Two days later, Ekundayo Taiwo, 23, was arrested at Ladipo Spare Parts Market, Mushin, in a follow-up operation. A day earlier, 61 grams of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, and 24 grams of methamphetamine hidden in an energy drink bottle had been seized from a commercial bus driver on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The drugs were sent as a waybill package.
In Kogi State, officers on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja highway on Wednesday, September 30, intercepted a Lagos-Abuja commuter bus and found two sachets of methamphetamine weighing 1kg in a waybill. The owner, Michael Chukwuememka Uzoma, 29, was later arrested at Utako, Abuja.
In Edo State, the home of Saturday Omimi, 35, at Uyere community, Ovia North-East LGA, was raided on Friday, October 2, and 32.2kg of cannabis sativa was recovered.
The same day, Osazuwa Iyabor Michael, 23, was arrested at Auchi Bypass, Benin City, with 59 grams of Loud, 12 grams of Colorado, 19 grams of tramadol, 16 grams of methamphetamine, 4 grams of Swinol and 4 grams of Molly.
A fugitive, Idris Mohammed Kurra, 47, was arrested on Tuesday, September 29, six years after he jumped bail. He was standing trial at the Federal High Court, Jos, for possession of and dealing in 198kg of skunk. The court granted him bail in December 2020, and he had evaded arrest since.
