NDLEA Busts Clever Drug Smuggling Hidden In Jackets, Cartons & Cream At Lagos Airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted significant consignments of opioids, cannabis, and methamphetamine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, as well as at a courier facility in Lagos.

According to Ireporter Online, the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday that two suspects linked to shipments bound for Italy were apprehended during separate operations. The illicit drugs were reportedly concealed in everyday items, including body cream containers, winter jackets, and the walls of cartons, in an attempt to evade detection.

The statement revealed that one of the suspects, 37-year-old Friday Ehianuka, was intercepted on Friday, March 20, 2026, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Rome. He was found with 2,698 pills of tramadol 225mg hidden inside skin-lightening cream containers packed in his luggage. The suspect, said to reside in Milan, reportedly admitted he was promised payment in euros upon successful delivery of the drugs.

In a separate operation at the airport’s departure hall on March 18, NDLEA operatives arrested another suspect, Christian Agbonhese, who was attempting to board a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Milan. A detailed search of his luggage led to the discovery of 28,470 pills of opioids, including tramadol and tapentadol, ingeniously concealed inside two large winter jackets.

Further operations on March 16 led to the interception of two parcels of a potent cannabis strain known as “Loud,” weighing 1kg, hidden in a carton shipped from the United States to Lagos. In the same vein, officers thwarted an attempt to export 158 grams of methamphetamine concealed within carton walls to New Zealand.

In northern Nigeria, NDLEA operatives intensified their crackdown. In Kano, a 35-year-old suspect, Abdulkadir Mamuda, was arrested with 102.5kg of skunk at Dan-Tsalle, while Uche Johnson Festus, 47, was apprehended the same day at Naibawa Gabas with 95.5kg of the substance.

In Lagos, NDLEA officers raided a storage facility in the Ijora area, recovering more than 21,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup. Two additional suspects were subsequently arrested on the Third Mainland Bridge while transporting thousands more bottles of the substance.

Meanwhile, in Oyo State, a suspect identified as Bankole Bari was arrested on March 17 at Oke-Oyan in Ibarapa Local Government Area with 71.2kg of skunk, reportedly smuggled into Nigeria from the Benin Republic through the Oyan River.

The statement further indicated that along the Kaduna-Zaria highway in Kaduna State, operatives recovered 586,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 from Lawal Anas, 28, on March 17, while 7,290 tablets of tramadol were seized from Musa Shuaibu, 22, at the same location on March 20. Acting on intelligence, another suspect, Aliyu Adamu, 26, was intercepted along the Takum-Jalingo highway in Taraba State with 77,660 capsules of tramadol en route to Gombe State.

In Adamawa State, at least six suspects were arrested following the seizure of 82.8kg of tramadol concealed in a truck in Yola. Those identified include Ramatu Aliyu, Jungudo Abdullahi, Najid Abdullahi, Musa Mohammed, Usman Abdulrahim, and another Musa Mohammed, all of whom were apprehended in follow-up operations.