Crime
PHOTOS: NDLEA dismantle social media drug network in Lagos, arrest 2 distributors packaging cannabis as imported Christmas cookies
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled a social media drug network in Lagos, arresting two distributors who packaged cannabis as imported Christmas cookies.
The distributors, identified as Deji Adesanya and Olubiyi Majekodunmi, had imported Canadian loud, a potent strain of cannabis, along with branded sachets printed with cookie and snack labels to conceal retail quantities of the drug.
Cannabis concealed in cookie and snack sachets
The agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the syndicate operated via a whatsapp group used to take and dispatch orders.
“Following credible intelligence about the activities of the syndicate which operates and distributes through a whatsapp platform, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 22nd November 2025 raided their apartment at Ojulari street, Ikate area of Lekki.
“A large quantity of the designer sachets and 5 kilograms of loud were recovered from them at the point of their arrest,” the statement read.
A separate operation in Mushin on November 27 led to the arrest of Philip Ucheka, 38, who was receiving 110 pouches of Canadian loud weighing 55.6kg.
Philip Ucheka
Three vehicles tied to his distribution activities were also confiscated.
At a courier company in Lagos on November 27, a teddy bear shipped from Thailand was found to contain 100 grams of loud, while 548 tramadol capsules hidden in Vitamin C and magnesium bottles bound for the United Kingdom were recovered at another logistics company the next day.
Along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, NDLEA operatives arrested Wasiu Kareem, 55, with large quantities of 8,000 ampoules pentazocine injection, 590 bottles of codeine syrup, 1,500 co-codamol tablets and 9,900 tramadol capsules.
On November 24, a raid on Ipe forest in the Akoko south east area of Ondo state led to the arrest of seven suspects and the recovery of 3,077kg of skunk.
The suspects are identified as John Ede, Ede Ndubuisi, Ikenna Abe, Eze Chukwuma, Maduabuchi Odo, Nnaji Chudubem and Gorge Okowor.
John Ede, Ede Ndubuisi, Ikenna Abe, Eze Chukwuma, Maduabuchi Odo, Nnaji Chudubem and Gorge Okowor
Similarly, in Kogi state, operatives arrested Anthony Sylvester, 49, along the Okene-Lokoja highway on November 26 with 649kg of skunk concealed in a truck.
Anthony Sylvester
Officers at the NDLEA Seme special area command carried out a separate raid on a warehouse in Ashipa, near the Seme border, recovering 487 blocks of skunk weighing 243.5kg and arresting Abubakar Shuaibu, 33.
Abubakar Shuaibu
In Kano, NDLEA operatives arrested Tsalha Alasan, 47, with 137kg of skunk along the Zaria-Kano road on November 24.
In Bauchi state, three suspects; Godspower Appeal, Ernest Upong and Godday Chukwudi were intercepted with 322 blocks of skunk (209kg) at Fanshanu village in Toro local government area.
Godspower Appeal, Ernest Upong and Godday Chukwudi
A black Toyota Highlander (registration ABJ 533 EA) reportedly used to convey the drugs was also impounded.
On November 29, John Ekoja, 51, was arrested along the Abuja-Jos highway with 210.15kg of skunk.
John Ekoja
Along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, a couple identified as Abdullahi Abubakar, 45, and Jamila Abdullahi, 35 were arrested with 725 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition hidden in a sack of maize.
Abdullahi Abubakar, Jamila Abdullahi
Another suspect, Awwal Sabiu, 20, was arrested on November 28 at the Abuja-Kaduna tollgate with 400 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.
Awwal Sabiu
NDLEA chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Kogi, Kano, Kaduna, Seme and Bauchi commands for the coordinated operations.
He urged officers to maintain the agency’s balanced approach combining enforcement with community-focused education.
Source: thestreetjournal.org/
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