The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has smashed a major drug cartel in Lagos, seizing tramadol valued at N3.9 billion and arresting an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, alongside three Nigerian accomplices.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed in a statement on Sunday 14th September, 2025 that the drugs, concealed as multivitamins were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on September 11.
The consignment, arranged in 114 cartons, shipped from Delhi, India, aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight on September 8. Operatives swooped in on a clearing agent and two drivers attempting to move the consignment in two trucks before trailing and arresting Kumar the next day.
Similarly at the same airport, operatives apprehended a first-time traveller, Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi, on September 7, en route to Doha, after finding 900 grams of cannabis (skunk) hidden in crayfish. His accomplice, a Qatar-based Nigerian, Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, was also arrested and very large quantities of the drug were recovered from his hotel room.
The crackdown extended to Tincan Port, where 81.7 kilograms of Canadian Loud and 1.2 kilograms of hashish oil were seized from a container of vehicle spare parts from Canada, leading to the arrest of two suspects. Similarly, a 65kg shipment of Canadian Loud was intercepted on Third Mainland Bridge.
The NDLEA operatives in another raid uncovered methamphetamine hidden in a picture frame packaged for Gabon and cannabis stuffed in video players heading to the UAE, while a raid in Ikorodu uncovered a factory producing “skuchies,” a cocktail of cannabis and blackcurrant drink, with over 6,000 bottles and 4.2 tonnes of cannabis recovered.
The nationwide operation recorded arrests and seizures in Abuja, Oyo, Kano, Anambra, Yobe, Ogun, and Edo States, including a massive destruction of nearly 17 tonnes of cannabis in a plantation at Ugbogyi Forest, Edo state.
Babafemi stressed that the arrests underline NDLEA’s intensified crackdown on local and foreign drug cartels exploiting Nigeria as a hub for illicit substances.
