Drug rings everywhere

 There is ubiquity of drug trafficking bids across Nigeria today that suggests the country may have become bogged in a creepy epidemic that has ruinous prospects for national health. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is waging a tough battle intercepting the traffickers. But with hydra-headed attempts at beating the law, you would wonder how many traffickers slipped through the net for every successful interception made by the anti-narcotics agency.

Recent reports by the NDLEA about encounters its operatives had with drug runners illustrate the evil ingenuity of the traffickers in their efforts to evade interception. A statement by the agency disclosed how its personnel at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, recovered 23 parcels of Loud – a potent strain of cannabis – weighing 11.3kilograms and hidden in microwaves imported from Thailand. The illicit substance, brought in from Bangkok through Addis Ababa as part of a consolidated cargo on Ethiopian Airlines, was intercepted on 7th July following credible intelligence the anti-drug agency received. NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said a thorough search of the cargo that came in two tranches uncovered the seized illicit parcels, concerning which a named suspect was arrested.

Babafemi further said barely a week after 420grams of cocaine that was factory-fitted into 84 pieces of female lipsticks heading to the United Kingdom was seized at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives at the export shed of Lagos airport intercepted another consignment of cocaine built into ladies’ lipsticks as part of a cargo heading to Malabo, Guinea. The cargo also contained hair attachments, face powder and other items that apparently were intended as a decoy. “No less than 400grams of cocaine and phenacetine, a cutting agent, were recovered from the lipsticks when dismantled,” Babafemi stated, adding that a businessman at Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, was arrested Friday, 11th July, in connection with the seizure.

Cocaine nuggets concealed in property  title documents addressed to Saudi Arabia were as well recovered from cargos being prepared for shipment at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday, 3rd July, by agents of NDLEA’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigation attached to the logistics firm. Babafemi said 280grams of the illicit substance were uncovered in the Certificate of Occupancy.  

Officials of a special operations unit of the anti-narcotics agency also arrested a named suspect in Lagos after 12 months that he had been in hiding. He was nabbed on Wednesday, 9th July, at his wife’s shop in Ijesha market. The suspect, described as a notorious drug kingpin, was said to have come under NDLEA radar in August 2024 after a 9kilogram parcel of cocaine was recovered from a courier at a motor park at Orile, Lagos, while going to deliver the consignment in the Southeast. The named suspect was identified as the owner of the seized drug. “In the course of investigating the kingpin and his network, his wife (named) was arrested with 500grams of cocaine at her beverage store in Ijesha market on 21st January, 2025. She was thereafter arraigned in court, convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. Unknown to him that NDLEA was still on his trail, the wanted kingpin came out of his hiding and was promptly arrested,” Babafemi said.

In Edo State, more than 28,000kilogram skunk, a local strain of cannabis, was destroyed on three farms covering over 11 hectares at Ewere Uzebba forest in Owan West council area on 8th July. The anti-narcotics agency said 82kilograms of already processed cannabis was also recovered from the location. It added that its operatives who went for the operation came under gun attack from armed members of the cartel on their way out of the forest, but they were able to repel the attack and came out unhurt. One of their operational vehicles, however, got riddled with bullets. “In Lagos, 1,400 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 700kilogram and a Ford delivery truck marked JJJ 698 YJ were recovered at Okun-Ajah Beach while two (named) suspects were nabbed along Ajah-Epe expressway by NDLEA operatives on Friday 11th July,” Babafemi further said. Items recovered from the suspects, according to him, include 26kilogram of Ghana Loud, 123grams of methamphetamine, 45grams of ‘Molly’ as well as their delivery van.

“The damage illicit drugs do isn’t limited to soiling Nigeria’s image abroad, there is a nexus between drug use and the high rate of criminality locally.”

The incidence of drug pushing exploits is no respecter of geopolitical delineations. NDLEA operatives in Borno State, on 12th July, arrested a 42-year-old suspect with 18,759 ampoules of Tramadol-related medications in Maiduguri. This came on the heels of the seizure of 10,000 pills of Tramadol from another suspect, aged 34, on 9th  July. In Gombe State, anti-narcotics agents recovered a total of 116,226 pills of Tramadol and other illicit substances from five suspects, ages ranging between 22 and 48, at Gombe main market and along Gombe-Kano road in separate operations on 8th and 12th July. Babafemi’s statement said another suspect was on 10th July arrested on Okene-Lokoja expressway, Kogi State, while conveying 316.600kilogram skunk. Still another suspect, a 38-year-old, got nabbed by NDLEA operatives with 58.805kilograms of the same substance in Gubuchi area of Ikara local government in Kaduna State.

In Taraba State, three suspects including a teenager were on 12th July arrested by anti-narcotics agents at a checkpoint while conveying 577,890 pills of opioids and 1.160kilogram skunk concealed in the tyre compartment of a petrol tanker, according to NDLEA. Three other suspects aged between 21 and 35 were nabbed with 48.1kilogram skunk at Janguza barracks area of Kano State on 9th July. And the trade isn’t restricted to young ones: there was a 78year-old suspect arrested with 14.49kilogram skunk and tramadol during a raid by anti-narcotics agents at Ofudua, Obubra council area of Cross River State, according to the NDLEA. Others nabbed with different quantities of illicit substances in allied operations include two 50-year-old suspects and a 40-year-old.

Sometimes, the illegal drug trade involved whole families. There was the case of a businessman, his wife, their two daughters and a family friend who were taken into custody after investigation revealed they ran a major distribution network in Lagos. The couple was the first to be arrested on Friday, 13th June, by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) in Ojo area of the state and transferred to NDLEA along with 277.5kilogram skunk. While still in custody and being investigated, credible intelligence revealed that the family drug business was yet ongoing in the man’s house, leading to a raid of the house and a ‘packing store’ where 231kilogram of same substance was recovered on Tuesday, 1st July. Three persons arrested during the raid were the couple’s two daughters and their family friend, who were running the business in the absence of the couple. Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at MMIA, Ikeja on Wednesday, 2nd July, intercepted a frequent flyer who specialises in shuttling goods for customers between Nigeria and Italy. He was found to have hidden 7,660 pills of Tramadol inside food items packed among other goods he was conveying to Italy. The suspect reportedly claimed he expected to be paid 800 euros upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Italy.

NDLEA Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Buba Marwa, a retired Major-General, highlighted the magnitude of the challenge when he said the agency arrested 66,085 drug offenders and secured the conviction of 12,201 in 53 months. Speaking at the grand finale of a weeklong programme to commemorate the 2025 World Drug Day late in June, he said the agency seized 1,143,717.44kilograms of assorted illicit drugs and rehabilitated 26,393 drug addicts within the same period.

He noted that prevention efforts would amount to little if access to illicit drugs remained open and easy. “Put simply, while we work strategically to prevent individuals from initiating drug use, we must simultaneously shut down the pipeline through which these harmful substances are distributed. We must remove traffickers from the equation. This is a task we have continued to pursue diligently, deploying every resource at our disposal,” he added inter alia.

The damage illicit drugs do isn’t limited to soiling Nigeria’s image abroad, there is a nexus between drug use and the high rate of criminality locally. Besides hardened criminals who operate under the influence of drugs, the effect cuts across population demographics and partly accounts for the menace of cultism and ritualism among young ones, so also incidents of rape for which elderly persons in many cases were fingered. The trafficking is a national call to action. While NDLEA can’t relent on its war, other agencies must step up to the plate – like Immigration that watches over Nigeria’s borders. After all, this isn’t a cocaine-producing country. The citizenry too must be vigilant and alert to happenings around them, so they could readily tip-off security agents to illicit operations in their environs. Fighting drug mules is a collective task that must be done.