NDLEA uncovers ₦1.04bn drug haul in Lagos Hotel, makes major arrests across Nigeria

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered a major drug distribution operation at an 80-room hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos.

During the raid, which lasted several hours, officers recovered 589 bags of Canadian Loud, a potent form of cannabis, weighing a total of 417.3 kilograms. The drugs are estimated to have a street value of ₦1,042,500,000.

Three suspects, identified as Eze Ayitu, Ofuokwu Samuel, and Emmanuel Ameh, were arrested at the five-storey building during the operation, conducted between Friday, 25 April, and Saturday, 26 April 2025. Two additional suspects, Noble Philip and his associate, Kenneth, are currently at large.

Items believed to be proceeds of the illicit drug trade were also seized from the premises, which house The Hook Hotel, Caesar Hotel, and Caesar Lounge, located at 16 Waziri Ibrahim Street, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island. These items include a Toyota Prado Land Cruiser, a Toyota Sienna, a Volkswagen delivery van, a Kia Cerato, a Grand Caravan Dodge, 74 new television sets, 10 used ones, and 13 refrigerators, among others.

In a separate operation in Jigawa State, which extended into Kano, NDLEA officers, acting on intelligence, intercepted a Toyota Sienna vehicle transporting drugs along the Kano-Ringim road in Gumel town at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 April. Two suspects, Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar, 29, were apprehended. Inside the vehicle, officers discovered 200,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin.

Further investigations led to the arrest of the principal supplier, Jamilu Muhammad, 41, at his residence in the Mil Tara area of Kano. An additional 1,584,000 tramadol 250mg pills were recovered, concealed in a Nissan 18-seater bus and a room within his home, bringing the total number of pills seized to 2,001,500.

Meanwhile, less than a week after the interception of 20 parcels of cocaine hidden in religious books bound for Saudi Arabia, NDLEA operatives in Lagos seized another consignment consisting of 46 wraps of cocaine weighing 547 grams. The drugs had been concealed in a container of body cream and were intercepted on Wednesday, 23 April, at a courier company. Other items seized on the same day included 1.8 kilograms of pentazocine injections and 60 grams of bromazepam tablets, which were being shipped to Canada.

At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, three Ghanaian women, Haziza Zubairu, 42; Samirat Mustapha, 43; and Jamila Salifu, 26, were arrested on Sunday, 20 April, while attempting to smuggle 4.8 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.

In Kano, a 60-year-old grandmother, Safiya Shamsu, was apprehended on Friday, 25 April, in the Samegu area of Kumbotso Local Government Area with 5.6 kilograms of skunk, another potent form of cannabis. Another suspect, Muntari Labaran, 35, was caught in Yelwa, Dala Local Government Area, in possession of 100 litres of codeine syrup.

Additionally, on Thursday, 24 April, NDLEA officers raided two cannabis farms in Ugbodu community, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, where they destroyed 3,814.9 kilograms of skunk. Three suspects Samuel Samson, 26; Daniel Peter, 20; and Abel Edah, 31 were arrested at the scene.

Meanwhile, the NDLEA continued its anti-drug advocacy campaign, known as the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), across the country last week. Outreach events included sensitisation lectures at Dan-Doro Community Arabic Secondary School in Katsina, St James Anglican School in Kebbi, Federal Government Girls College in Sokoto, and a meeting with Oganiru Age Grade members in Onitsha, Anambra State. In Lagos, NDLEA officers also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi.

The Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired), commended officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) as well as the Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Edo, and Seme Commands for their successful arrests and seizures. He also praised NDLEA personnel nationwide for maintaining a balance between tackling the supply and demand aspects of drug control.