By Joe Udo
LAGOS (CONVERSEER) – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered and dismantled a social media network used to distribute illicit substances packaged as imported Christmas cookies and snacks, with two masterminds arrested and taken into custody after a raid on their hideout in the Lekki area of Lagos.
The drug syndicate run by the duo of Deji Adesanya and Olubiyi Majekodunmi had imported consignments of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis and a variety of colourful designer sachets with pictures and labels of cookies and snacks printed on them, and used to package the psychoactive substance in retail quantities.
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, where a large quantity of the designer sachets and 5kilograms of Loud were recovered from them at the point of their arrest.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 27th November, arrested a 38-year-old drug kingpin, Philip Ucheka, while taking delivery of 110 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 55.6kg at the Ladipo area of Mushin. At the point of his arrest, three delivery vehicles were also seized from him.
At a courier company in Lagos, 100grams of Loud concealed in a teddy bear imported from Thailand were intercepted on Thursday, 27th November, while a consignment of 548 capsules of tramadol hidden in bottles of Vitamin C and Magnesium going to the United Kingdom was recovered at another logistics firm the following day, Friday, 28th November.
In Oyo state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Lagos -Ibadan expressway on Saturday, 29th November, nabbed a suspect, Wasiu Kareem, 55, with 8,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 590 bottles of codeine syrup, 1,500 pills of Co-codamol and 9,900 capsules of tramadol.
No fewer than seven suspects were arrested on Monday, 24th November, when NDLEA operatives raided the Ipe forest in Akoko South East area of Ondo State, where they recovered 3,077 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis. Those arrested include: John Ede; Ede Ndubuisi; Ikenna Abe; Eze Chukwuma; Maduabuchi Odo; Nnaji Chudubem; and George Okowor.
While Anthony Sylvester, 49, was arrested along Okene/Lokoja highway Kogi state conveying 649kg of skunk in a truck on Wednesday 26th November, NDLEA officers at the Seme Special Area Command on Friday 28th November raided a warehouse at Ashipa, Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos where they arrested a suspect Abubakar Shuaibu, 33, with 487 blocks of skunk weighing 243.5kg.
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In Kano, Tsalha Alasan, 47, was arrested along Zaria-Kano road with 137kg of skunk on Monday 24th November, while three suspects: Godspower Appeal, 50; Ernest Upong, 55; and Godday Chukwudi, 38, were nabbed on Wednesday 26th November with 322 blocks of skunk weighing 209kilograms at Fanshanu village, Toro LGA, Bauchi state. A black Toyota Highlander jeep marked ABJ 533 EA used in conveying the consignment was also recovered from them.
A suspect John Ekojo, 51, was arrested with 210.15kg skunk along Abuja/Jos highway on Saturday 29th November, while a couple: Abdullahi Abubakar, 45, and Jamila Abdullahi, 35, were nabbed along Abuja/Kaduna highway with 725 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a sack of maize just as another suspect Awwal Sabiu, 20, was caught with 400 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition at Abuja/Kaduna tollgate on Friday 28th November.
With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities, among others, in the past week. These include: WADA sensitisation lecture to students and staff of Government Junior Technical School, Kofar Kudu, Kano; Bright Eyes International School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; dock workers and clearing agents at the Tincan Port, Lagos; Legacy International College, Nsukka, Enugu; and Seatos School, Ikorodu, Lagos, among others.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Seme and Bauchi Commands for the various successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
