NDLEA arrests Chinese businessman, 80-year-old grandma for drug peddling

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Chinese businessman, an 80-year-old woman, and several others in nationwide operations that uncovered moimoi-wrapped cannabis, concealed forest farms, and large quantities of narcotics hidden in food tins.

According to a statement issued by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, the arrests were made between 21 and 26 July 2025 across Lagos, Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Kogi and five other states.

One of the most prominent arrests involved Mr Liang Tak You, a Chinese national apprehended at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, after arriving from Bangkok via Dubai. Officials found 50 parcels of Canadian Loud cannabis, weighing 26.1 kilograms, in two suitcases.

In Calabar, operatives detained Mrs Grace Ekpeme, 80, on 26 July after a search of her residence uncovered more than 3 kilograms of cannabis.

In Lagos, Mr Chidi Agbafo was intercepted on the Epe-Ajah Expressway with 21.7 kilograms of Colorado cannabis, some packaged in moimoi sachets, along with 3.8 litres of codeine syrup. He was reportedly transporting the drugs to Warri and Oghara in Delta State.

At Apapa Seaport, NDLEA, working with Customs, seized 101 kilograms of Canadian Loud cannabis hidden inside 202 tins labelled Bean Salad Mix. The consignment had been shipped from Canada in two Toyota Sienna buses packed in a container.

On 23 July, Mr Usman Musa was taken into custody along the Abuja-Kaduna highway with 71,000 tablets of tramadol, diazepam and Exol-5 while en route to Kano in a commercial bus.

In Borno State, Mrs Binta Usman was caught with 30.1 kilograms of cannabis. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of her alleged supplier, Mr Bala Abdullahi.

A raid on a cannabis plantation in Bending Corner Forest, Idoani, Ondo State, resulted in the arrest of three brothers — Nanna, Chizom and Maxwell Ozirinye. Agents destroyed 2,500 kilograms of cannabis on-site and confiscated another 121.4 kilograms of processed product.

In Edo State, 26-year-old Bright Sunday Okon was arrested during a raid in Asakpa community, Benin City, where NDLEA recovered Colorado, Loud, Arizona, skunk and methamphetamine.

Other seizures included 105.4 kilograms of skunk from an abandoned vehicle in Keffi, Nasarawa; 6,400 tramadol tablets from Bashir Abdullahi in Minna, Niger; 113 kilograms of cannabis from Jamiu Omolaja’s base in Ifo, Ogun; and 10,910 tramadol capsules from Adamu Adamu along the Gombe-Bajoga road.

In Kogi, a consignment of narcotics hidden in food items led to the arrest of Kindness Bala, 27, in Abuja. She admitted plans to transport the drugs to Katsina and then to Qatar.

Further operations in Ayingba, Kogi State, led to the recovery of 23,600 tramadol tablets, 300 pentazocine ampoules and 700 grams of cannabis from a truck.

NDLEA Chairman Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired) praised the successful operations across Lagos, Cross River, Ondo, Edo, Borno, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Gombe, Kaduna and Kogi. He reaffirmed the agency’s approach of combining drug supply containment with efforts to reduce demand nationwide.