Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted consignments of illicit drugs concealed in frozen snails, electrical bulbs, and female clothes bound for the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The interceptions were made at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and a courier company in Lagos.
According to the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, at least two suspects linked to the export attempts have been taken into custody. One of them, a cargo agent identified as Boladale Riliwan, was arrested on October 7, 2025, after 15 parcels of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, were discovered hidden inside 10 giant rechargeable electrical bulbs he presented in a carton for airfreight to the Democratic Republic of Congo at the export shed of the Lagos airport.
Another suspect, 48-year-old Olawale Oyebola Hakeemot, a UK-based Public Health Assistant, was arrested on Sunday, October 12, at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja. She was apprehended after NDLEA officers discovered 2,300 pills of Tramadol 225mg concealed in frozen snails within her luggage while preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to Manchester, United Kingdom.
A separate attempt by another syndicate to export 810 pills of bromazepam hidden in female clothes destined for the United States was also foiled by NDLEA officers at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday, October 16.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a suspect, Bello Buba, at a checkpoint in Namtari, Yola South Local Government Area, with 38,270 pills of Tramadol concealed in the spare tyre, boot, and door compartments of his Honda Civic. He reportedly drove the car from Benin Republic to smuggle the consignment into Nigeria on Sunday, October 12.
Not less than 53,250 kilogrammes of skunk were destroyed on 21.3 hectares of cannabis farm in Ilawe Ekiti, Ekiti State, with 70 bags of the same psychoactive substance weighing 1,140kg recovered during an operation that lasted between Sunday, October 12, and Monday, October 13. Suspects arrested during the operation include Matthew Emmanuel, 26; James Moses, 27; and Israel Samuel, 20. The development followed the destruction of 17,400kg of skunk on 6.96 hectares of plantation by NDLEA operatives at Aponmu Forest Reserve in Akure, Ondo State, on Sunday, October 12.
In Oyo State, four suspects — Aliyu Muhammed, 50; Babarinde Segun, 32; Ogunbiyi Sanjo, 30; and Ajani Oluro, 30 — were arrested with 596kg of skunk at Apata-Ako, Igboora. In another operation at Odo-Oyan, Igangan, two more suspects, Jacob Afolabi, 30, and Salako Oluwatobi, 25, were arrested with 273kg of the same substance on Thursday, October 16.
In Ogun State, Joseph Andrew was arrested in possession of 88kg of skunk on Wednesday, October 15, at Ona-Imeko, while another suspect, Festus Udoh, 42, was apprehended with 13,000 pills of opioids along the Onitsha-Owerri Road in Imo State.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives recovered 74.5kg of skunk from the store of a suspect, Joseph Chukwujamaa, at Umuogbo-Agu village, Enugu State, on Saturday, October 18.
In Lagos, officers recovered 11 bags of skunk weighing 117kg from the base of a suspect, Ramoni Olukowi, in the Mushin area on Saturday, October 18. Additionally, 80,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted in a container earlier placed on watch by NDLEA. The interception was made during a joint examination with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the Apapa Port on Tuesday, October 14.
