The Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) has intercepted illicit medication price over N7.1 billion at two Lagos ports and arrested an 85-year-old girl in Edo State as a part of a national crackdown on drug trafficking.
The advance was once disclosed on Sunday, October 18, 2026, in a commentary issued by way of the company’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
The operations, performed between October 2 and 17, lined Lagos, Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), leading to a couple of arrests and the seizure of 1000’s of kilogrammes of hashish and big amounts of opioids.
Lagos ports yield N7.1 billion medication
Consistent with the NDLEA, its operatives exposed 8,725 kilogrammes of powdered tramadol valued at over N6.98 billion at Apapa Port in Lagos, following a joint exam with the Nigeria Customs Provider and different companies.
The cargo, which originated from India and was once falsely declared as maize starch, was once to start with came upon on October 2.
The company said:
- “A confirmatory check on the NDLEA forensic laboratory confirmed the shipment to be tramadol hydrochloride powder. When it was once separated from its concealment on Wednesday 14th October, it got here to 349 baggage with a gross weight of 8,725kg, price over N6.98 billion.”
In some other operation at Tin Can Island Port on October 12, operatives recovered 55 kilogrammes of Canadian Loud valued at N165 million, hid inside of a Toyota Sienna automobile transported in a 40-foot container.
Somewhere else in Lagos, officials recovered 10,600 ampoules of diazepam injection and six,500 Molly capsules from a store in Idumota Marketplace, whilst two suspects had been arrested in Mushin with a mixed 121.18 kilogrammes of skunk. Any other operation at Iyana Oba exposed 18,000 tramadol capsules hid in cartons labelled as insecticide.
In Edo State, operatives arrested 85-year-old Grace Ehimeka with 179 kilogrammes of skunk all the way through raids throughout Owan East Native Executive Space between October 15 and 16. 5 different suspects had been arrested with further amounts of hashish and different managed ingredients.
- The company additionally recorded vital seizures in different states, together with 7,500 kilogrammes of hashish destroyed in Ondo, 894,800 tramadol and Exol-5 capsules intercepted in Bauchi, and 130,100 capsules recovered in Kano.
In Kaduna and Abuja, operatives recovered 496.5 kilogrammes of hashish and 79,000 tramadol capsules and drugs in separate raids.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), counseled the officials concerned and instructed persevered intelligence-led operations in opposition to drug trafficking networks.
NDLEA information multibillion-naira drug seizures
The newest seizures upload to a chain of multibillion-naira drug interceptions recorded by way of the NDLEA in 2026, highlighting the dimensions of illicit drug trafficking and enforcement actions throughout Nigeria.
The company has performed a number of main operations involving narcotics destruction, opioid interceptions and hashish seizures in several portions of the rustic.
- In August, the company destroyed roughly 329,866 kilogrammes of narcotics valued at N301.06 billion in Lagos, following court docket orders involving concluded and deserted instances. The consignment incorporated medication seized all the way through previous enforcement operations.
- Later that month, NDLEA operatives intercepted Captagon, repeatedly known as the Jihadi drug, along thousands and thousands of opioid capsules valued at over N6.2 billion at Lagos‘ Murtala Muhammed Global Airport.
- The seizures persevered into October, when the company intercepted illicit medication price greater than N5 billion at ports in Lagos and Rivers State, whilst destroying some other 20,234 kilogrammes of hashish cultivated in Osun State.
Those operations preceded the newest interceptions at Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, the place the company recovered medication valued at over N7.1 billion.
NDLEA uncovers world drug syndicates
Past the rising worth of intercepted medication, contemporary NDLEA investigations have uncovered the involvement of international nationals and world felony networks in Nigeria’s illicit drug manufacturing and trafficking actions.
The company has additionally recorded arrests involving aged suspects, with the newest case in Edo State following a an identical operation in Ogun State.
Previous that month, the company introduced the arrest of Mexican nationwide Arturo Carrera Loaiza while attempting to leave Nigeria through Lagos airport. Investigators connected him to some other clandestine methamphetamine laboratory exposed in Ebonyi State.