The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of cocaine ingeniously concealed in a local mortar and the false bottom of a backpack intended for shipment to China and Italy, as the Agency intensified its crackdown on drug trafficking across the country.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) made the seizures at a Lagos logistics company on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
The intercepted consignments included 250 grams of cocaine factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar packaged for export to China, and 500 grams of cocaine concealed in the false bottom of a backpack destined for Italy.
In a related operation, NDLEA operatives in Rivers State arrested a 38-year-old suspected notorious drug dealer, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island in Port Harcourt following credible intelligence. He was apprehended with quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol, and codeine syrup.
In Anambra State, NDLEA officers on stop-and-search duty at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha intercepted a truck with registration number XK 131 BDG carrying 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kilograms. The truck driver, Chinedu Nwanze, 40, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
Similarly, in Delta State, operatives recovered 331.84 kilograms of skunk from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale–Ughelli Expressway.
In Nasarawa State, a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, was arrested at Asso Angwan Muazu in Karu with 68 kilograms of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine.
Meanwhile, in Zamfara State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Zaria–Gusau Highway intercepted Sani Umar, 27, with 7,400 pills of tramadol (225mg) suspected to be supplies for criminal elements operating in the area.
Beyond enforcement operations, the Agency sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign across the country, conducting sensitisation programmes in schools, transport parks, workplaces, and communities. Beneficiaries included students and staff of Hausawa Special Primary School in Kano, Royal Crown School in Ibadan, Government Secondary School in Ibi, Taraba State, and commercial drivers at Challenge Bus Terminal in Ibadan.
Commending officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations as well as Commands in Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Nasarawa, and Zamfara States, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), urged personnel nationwide to sustain the Agency’s balanced approach of aggressive drug supply reduction alongside preventive drug abuse awareness campaigns.
