Nigeria’s anti-drug enforcement agency has carried out a series of high-profile operations that led to the arrest of two alleged drug barons in Lagos and the interception of narcotics destined for terrorist groups in the northeast.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, 64-year-old Victor Nwosa and 49-year-old Felix Obiegbu were detained in Lagos following months of intelligence-led surveillance. Nwosa, described as a textile merchant, was arrested on 17 September in Okota, where heroin and cocaine were recovered. Obiegbu, who posed as a wine distributor, was picked up on 11 September in Surulere with almost 3 kilogrammes of methamphetamine seized from his residence.
“Their operations had been carefully monitored as they prepared consignments of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine for export to Europe,” Babafemi explained.
Meanwhile, operatives in the northeast disrupted attempts to funnel narcotics to armed groups. On 2 September in Borno, NDLEA officers arrested 26-year-old Kaka Ibrahim after 39,380 tramadol and exol-5 pills were discovered hidden in the engine compartment of his Mercedes Benz.
On the same day in neighbouring Yobe, officers intercepted Halima Adamu, who was carrying 39 parcels of Colorado — a synthetic cannabis strain — in her luggage. A swift follow-up operation in Maiduguri resulted in the arrest of another suspect, Habiba Muhammad, linked to the seized drugs.
The NDLEA has described the operations as part of its intensified crackdown on drug trafficking networks and their ties to insurgency financing in northern Nigeria.
