Operatives of the Nationwide Drug Regulation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) have uncovered a significant drug trafficking operation involving cocaine hid in imported dry inventory fish, alongside a number of seizures of arduous medicine throughout the nation.
The company’s director of media, Femi Babafemi, in an announcement on Sunday acknowledged that the breakthrough got here after intelligence stories uncovered a transnational drug syndicate engaged in trafficking illicit substances to locations together with India.
Performing on this, NDLEA officers connected to the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport (MMIA) strategic command carried out a focused operation within the Ojo space of Lagos on March 19, 2026.
Throughout the raid, a suspected kingpin, 36-year-old Akputa Dickson Ejike, was arrested with three giant baggage. A search revealed 237 wraps of cocaine ingeniously hid contained in the heads of imported dry fish, popularly often called “Okporoko.” The seized medicine weighed 5.80 kilograms and had been reportedly destined for Delhi, India.
In a associated operation, NDLEA operatives intercepted two separate consignments certain for the UK at a Lagos-based courier facility on March 25. The shipments included 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in car filters, in addition to 40 ampoules of morphine sulphate and 9 ampoules of fentanyl.
Additional enforcement actions led to the arrest of a suspected drug syndicate chief, Omolade Abigail Jolayemi, popularly often called “Iya Ghana,” at her residence in Yaba, Lagos.
She was apprehended alongside an affiliate, Sarah Zainab Agbabiaka. Officers recovered 135 blocks of “Ghana Loud,” a potent pressure of hashish, weighing 76.30 kilograms. Authorities say Jolayemi operated a cross-border drug distribution community between Nigeria and Ghana underneath the duvet of a professional textile enterprise.
On the identical day, one other suspect, Anayo Fortunate Ohabiro, was arrested in Surulere, Lagos, with 78 blocks of hashish weighing 41 kilograms.
Outdoors Lagos, NDLEA operations prolonged to a number of states. In Ekiti state, an 80-year-old man, Oke Samuel, was arrested with 2.2 kilograms of skunk and a small amount of methamphetamine throughout a raid in Efon-Alaaye. In close by Ondo state, officers recovered 894.72 kilograms of hashish from a suspect following a raid on an uncompleted constructing in Akure North.
Different seizures included 116.7 kilograms of hashish in Benue state, 576.5 kilograms of hashish and 33 bottles of codeine syrup in Edo state, and 135 kilograms of compressed hashish intercepted in Taraba state. Two suspects had been arrested in reference to the Taraba seizure.