The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Chinese businessman and an 80-year-old Nigerian woman in a series of coordinated operations across multiple states, leading to the seizure of large quantities of illicit drugs, including cannabis strains concealed in food packaging and opioid pills.
In a statement on Sunday July 27th 2025, Director, Media and Advocacy NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja Femi Babafemi said the operations, which spanned Lagos, Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Ogun, Gombe, Kaduna, and Kogi states, also involved the interception of international drug consignments and dismantling of local drug networks.
One of the key arrests was that of Liang Tak You, a Chinese national, naturalised in Malaysia, who was apprehended at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on Friday, July 25. He arrived from Bangkok via Dubai with two suitcases containing 50 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 26.1kg. NDLEA operatives had been tracking his movement from Thailand and picked him up after he cleared airport protocols.
In Calabar, Cross River State, Mrs. Grace Ekpeme, 80, was arrested with over 3kg of skunk following credible intelligence on her drug trafficking activities.
Other notable seizures include:
- 7kg of Colorado (a synthetic cannabis strain) and 3.8 litres of codeine syrup found in moimoi sachets, intercepted from a commercial bus en route to Delta State.
- 101kg of Canadian Loud disguised as “Bean Salad Mix” and hidden in a container from Canada, discovered during a joint inspection at Apapa Seaport, Lagos.
- Over 71,000 pills of tramadol, diazepam, and exol-5 seized from Usman Musa along the Abuja–Kaduna highway.
- 1kg of skunk recovered from a residence in Maiduguri; a follow-up led to the arrest of a co-conspirator, Bala Abdullahi.
In Ondo State, three brothers were arrested during a raid on a cannabis plantation in Idoani, where 2,500kg of skunk was destroyed and 121.4kg of processed cannabis seized.
Further arrests were made in:
- Benin City, Edo, where various cannabis strains and methamphetamine were recovered.
- Keffi, Nasarawa, with the seizure of 4kg skunk from an abandoned vehicle.
- Minna, Niger State, where 6,400 tramadol pills were seized from Bashir Abdullahi.
- Ifo, Ogun State, where 113kg skunk was seized from a drug den after resistance from gang members.
NDLEA operatives in Gombe State also arrested Adamu Adamu a.k.a. Dankyado, with 10,910 tramadol capsules, while in Kogi, 27-year-old Kindness Bala was arrested in a follow-up to the interception of drugs concealed in garri, scent leaves, and foodstuffs, intended for shipment to Katsina and Qatar.
Across the country, the agency’s War against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative continued with sensitization activities in schools and communities in Oyo, Ebonyi, Sokoto, Lagos, and Anambra States.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the commitment of operatives and reaffirmed the agency’s balanced approach to both drug supply reduction and demand reduction.
