The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled an international organised criminal group (IOCG) operating between Nigeria, the UK, Brazil, Australia and the UAE, following a two-week, intelligence-led operation in Lagos.
It was understands that three leaders of the cartel were arrested after officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, intercepted a large cocaine shipment concealed in textile materials and “local charms” en route to Sydney, Australia.
The bust reportedly began on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, when NDLEA officers at the MMIA export shed intercepted 76 cartons of textile materials bound for Sydney.
A thorough search uncovered 16 big blocks of cocaine (17.9kg) hidden inside lace fabrics and packed with charms “to provide spiritual cover against law-enforcement detection,” according to an NDLEA statement.
A freight agent, Olashupo Michael Oladimeji, identified as a syndicate member, was arrested immediately. The consignment carried an estimated street value of AU$5.3m (₦5.3bn).
Fast-tracked investigations unmasked two other leaders: Muaezee Ademola Ogunbiyi and Shola Adegoke.
Ogunbiyi, described as the cartel’s Nigeria coordinator, was arrested on Wednesday, September 3, at a hotel in Ikeja GRA. A follow-up search at his Lekki residence yielded 21 parcels of Canadian Loud (10.90kg) and a double-barrel pump-action gun with cartridges.
A black Toyota Venza (FST 771 JQ) was also recovered at the point of arrest.
In a statement signed and issued Sunday, September 7, 2025, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, said operatives raided a house at 13 Reverend Ogunbiyi Street, Ikeja GRA, used by the syndicate to package drugs for export. There, another leader, Shola Adegoke, was arrested.
According to him, a black Range Rover (RBC 459 EJ) parked in the compound was searched; 17 parcels of Loud (9.60kg) were recovered.
Investigators identified Adebisi Ademola Omoyele (alias “Mr. Bee”), currently “hibernating” in Dubai, UAE, as the cartel’s overall ringleader coordinating offshore operations.
Adegoke was jailed in the UK in 2021 for methamphetamine dealing and deported in 2024.
It was understands that Ogunbiyi served 14 years in the UK over a murder case before returning to Nigeria about eight years ago.
Airport, Seaport Hits: Tramadol, Codeine Seizures
At MMIA, Friday, September 5, operatives arrested Gabriel Michael, a Milan-based Nigerian, at Terminal 1 while boarding an Air France flight to Italy. He concealed 24,480 tramadol pills (100mg/200mg/225mg) and claimed he intended to sell them for €19,520.
At WACT, Onne Port (PHPC), Rivers State, on Thursday, September 4, a joint NDLEA–Customs examination uncovered 160,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup in a 40-ft container masked with 220 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares.
The shipment, watch-listed and tracked by an NDLEA special operations unit, has an estimated street value of over ₦1.1bn.
Abuja (FCT): Thursday, September 4, a dispatch rider, Joel Bernard (32), was arrested in Gwarimpa with 3.1kg of “Colorado” (synthetic cannabis).
Lagos (Ijesha, Surulere): Acting on intelligence, on Monday, September 1, operatives arrested Tunde Ayinla (47) and Olawale Omotare (54) while loading four distribution vehicles at 28 Ola Street. Recovered: 9kg Canadian Loud, 5kg Colorado, and 1,101 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud (611kg), total: 625kg.
Lagos (Ajegunle): Friday, September 5, a couple, Andy David (43) and Andy Esther (44), were arrested with 24.4kg of skunk at their residence.
Kogi: Musa Isah (45) was arrested with 53.400kg of skunk hidden in two cartons in the trunk of a Toyota Avensis (ABC 338 SS).
Edo (Auchi): Friday, September 5, Yunusa Zakari (23) was nabbed in a follow-up to an earlier 233kg skunk seizure in Kakau, Kaduna State.
Anambra (Onitsha): Wednesday, September 3, operatives arrested Ayouk Nelson (28) at 61 Bida Road with 11,000 tramadol pills.
Niger (Minna–Bida Road): Tuesday, September 2, a white Toyota Hilux was intercepted; search uncovered 30 bags of skunk (342kg). Driver Afolayan Ayodele (54) was arrested.
NDLEA Busts Global Cocaine Ring, Nabs Three Lagos Kingpins, Traces Dubai Boss [Photos]
NDLEA
In Taraba, NDLEA destroyed 18,750kg (18.75 tonnes) of skunk cultivated on 7.5 hectares at Joro-Ade village, Ardo-Kola LGA, on Tuesday, September 2. Farm owners Mako Zmar (55) and Sani Titus (45) were arrested.
The agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) outreach continued nationwide with sensitisation visits and lectures to:
Officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Lafia (Nasarawa);
Ward heads in Kano Municipal Council (Kano);
Members of the Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association, Awgu LGA (Anambra);
The Ohi of Ihima, HRH Alhaji Abdulraheem Ahmed Ogido, and Okehi LGA Council of Traditional Rulers (Kogi), among others.
Commending operatives of MMIA, PHPC/Onne, Lagos, FCT, Anambra, Taraba, Kaduna, Kogi and Niger Commands for the week’s arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.) urged them and their colleagues nationwide to “intensify the ongoing balanced approach to drug control.”
Akinsoji, 27, a drill rapper and accomplice, Sundjata Keita, 27, of Cruikshank Road E15, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, 24 October, 2025.
They both received life sentences after the Metropolitan Police linked them to the 2017 m8rder through DNA evidence.
Akinsoji was jailed for a minimum term of 28 years, while Keita received a minimum term of 22 years.
A jury at the Old Bailey convicted the pair of a m8rder on Thursday, 9 October, in connection with the k!lling Ahmed Deen-Jah in East London.
A m8rder investigation was launched on Sunday, 2 April, 2017, after Ahmed – aged 24 – was stabbed during an unprovoked assault in a convenience store near Custom House station in Newham.
Detective Superintendent Kelly Allen, who led the investigation, said: “I hope the long sentences provide some measure of closure to Ahmed’s family, who have waited almost a decade for justice.
“Akinsoji and Keita launched a cold-blooded and unprovoked attack. Worse still, they then sought to evade the law – and were able to do so until 2023, when damning forensic evidence came to light.”
On the day of the murder, CCTV showed Ahmed entering the store on Freemasons Road, Newham, at around 15:20hrs, where he bought a cigarette lighter.
He was seen to return to the shop around 30 seconds later, being followed by a man wearing a balaclava. The man chased Ahmed around the shop, before stabbing him and running away. Ahmed was sadly pronounced d3ad at the scene.
Akinsoji and Keita were originally arrested as part of the investigation, within eight days. They were released under investigation as officers continued complex enquiries.
In 2023, an investigation review was carried out which included detailed phone analysis, placing Keita’s phone inside the car used for the m8rder. The car had travelled to Epping Forest following the murder, where it was later found on fire.
An evidence package – including forensic results from a knife sheath found close to the scene and DNA findings from the victim’s hand – was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service. This had shown a match for the two men’s DNA.
Following this breakthrough, the men were rearrested on Friday, 25 October, 2024, and subsequently charged with m8rder.
A trial for the two men began on Monday, 8 September. The court heard how Ahmed’s murder was a result of “tit for tat” violence between gangs, and that both men had been driving around the area in a stolen car, looking for people they suspected being in a rival gang.
CCTV played in court showed Akinsoji ambushing Ahmed and following him into the shop, before st@bbing him.
Following the conviction, Ahmed’s father said he was “overwhelmed with relief” for his mental health and thanked police for working hard to bring the killers to justice.
Operatives of the Uyo Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , EFCC, have arrested an alleged serial fraudster Mrs. Imaobong Cyril Okpong for her alleged involvement in a series of visa fraud schemes and fake offers of foreign scholarships for nonexistent studies abroad.
A statement from the commission says Okpong was arrested following claims of a petitioner, Dr. (Mrs.) Blessing Nse Bassey, a clinician, that alleged that the suspect defrauded her of the sum of N3,000,000 (Three Million Naira) under the guise of securing a University admission for her and also processing Canadian visas for her and her husband.
‘’According to Bassey, the suspect contacted her sometime in February 2024 with a supposed opportunity to secure a scholarship and study visa abroad. She explained that she didn’t make any payment until the suspect signed an indemnity agreement, which she notarized before making the N3,000,000 electronic transfer into the suspect’s bank account.
However, after receiving the payment, Okpong allegedly became unreachable and started rejecting calls on her mobile lines as she completely failed to deliver on her promise and terms of the signed agreement.”the statement read
The EFCC added that Bassey claimed that the suspect had defrauded many victims, especially one of her friends “I met in China who got stranded in China when she got there and realized that there was no scholarship. Some of her victims had travelled abroad with fake documents that left many of them stranded overseas while some others faced deportation with huge financial losses”
The agency added that the suspect, an alleged owner of Michael Udonquak Schools , Mbierebe in Akwa Ibom State, will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
A Canadian federal court has ordered the deportation of Lucky Bidemi Olorunfemi, a pastor who was based in Ondo state, after discovering that he bribed members of the Nigerian police Force to declare him wanted as part of a fabricated persecution story to back his asylum claim.
Justice McHaffie of the federal court in Toronto delivered the ruling on October 16, upholding a decision by the refugee protection division that found Olorunfemi’s materials lacked credibility and bore signs of being doctored.
Olorunfemi filed for refugee status in 2023 after relocating to Canada.
He claimed that his pro-LGBTQ teachings and tolerance of gay congregants angered muslim jihadis who sought to take his life.
In one instance, he claimed irate Muslims torched his church and chased him to a police station in March 2022.
According to Olorunfemi, the incident led him to go into hiding for a year. It was from there that he processed his visa to flee to Canada.
To substantiate his claims, Olorunfemi submitted four documents, but McHaffie of the Canadian federal court questioned their authenticity, asserting they were riddled with errors and bore signs of fraud.
The Nigerian national was represented by Abdul-Rahman Kadiri in the matter heard in the Toronto court.
The documents include a newspaper excerpt reporting the attempt on Olorunfemi’s life, an invitation from the Nigerian police to question him about the incident dated April 2022, his wife’s medical report following an attack in June 2024, and a wanted poster “Issued by the authority of the Odoua [sic] peoples congress”.
But the refugee protection division picked holes in the documents, particularly that the newspaper report was so poorly written and contained blunders that it resembled brown paper journalism.
The judge noted that there was no direct link to the story, save for a generic website link.
Another red flag, the division noted, was that the wording of the newspaper report was almost verbatim as Olorunfemi’s allegations.
“The RPD next set out why it considered it more likely than not that the newspaper report, which was ‘riddled with spelling and grammatical errors and recounts the claimant’s allegations using language obviously similar to that of his narrative,’ was an example of ‘brown envelope journalism,’ fabricated at Olorunfemi’s direction.
“It made similar conclusions regarding the letter from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the medical report, and the wanted poster, each of which had glaring authenticity concerns,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
McHaffie said the Nigerian pastor did not provide any credible reason to counter the RPD.
Also at issue was the wanted poster reportedly issued by the Odoua [sic] Peoples Congress.
Several misspellings, including Oodua as Odoua and Yoruba as “youruba,” and other inconsistencies led the refugee division to further doubt the documents’ authenticity.
“This led the RPD to conclude that the poster was fraudulent even without having to note that the poster, which bears Olorunfemi’s picture, identifies him as someone with a different name entirely,” McHaffie said.
McHaffie stressed that Olorunfemi’s wanted poster lacked any contact information, unlike similar letter specimens from the Nigerian police archived by the Canadian government.
The judge countered Olorunfemi’s assertions that the RPD denied his request on the basis of minor infractions, stressing that the Nigerian national had built his case on the documents and could not now turn around to label the discrepancies as minor.
He rebuked Olorunfemi for faulting the RPD for not making further enquiries to verify the documents, when it was Olorunfemi who submitted papers that lacked any contact details.
The medical report, according to McHaffie, only had a postal address and a Gmail address but no telephone number.
The court also noted contradictions in Olorunfemi’s testimony, including his claim of limited English language proficiency, which was undermined when the division saw he responded to his own counsel in flawless spoken English.
After hearing Olorunfemi’s arguments, McHaffie sided with the RPD that while Olorunfemi’s arguments were not credible, the only fact that could be established in his case was that he was truly a Nigerian based on his passport and testimony.
The judge dismissed Olorunfemi’s request for a review of his asylum denial due to his failure to remain consistent in his testimony and to buttress his application with credible documents.
“The application for judicial review is dismissed,” the judge ruled.