The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded a major breakthrough in its nationwide crackdown on drug trafficking, intercepting illicit substances concealed in coffee sachets and arresting 22 Indian nationals linked to a large cocaine seizure at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.
Operatives of the agency intercepted consignments of ketamine, ecstasy, and tramadol pills hidden inside sachets of coffee mix and parcels of books destined for Zambia and the United Kingdom.
The seizures were made at a courier facility in Lagos on December 24 and 29, 2025.
In a related operation, NDLEA officers arrested the entire crew of a merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, after 31.5 kilogrammes of cocaine were discovered in Hatch 3 of the ship at the GDNL terminal, Apapa last Friday .
The vessel had arrived from the Marshall Islands.
Those taken into custody included the ship’s master, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, and 21 other Indian crew members, all of whom are being investigated for their alleged roles in the trafficking attempt.
Meanwhile, in Oyo State, NDLEA operatives arrested a notorious female drug dealer, 65-year-old Fatima Ilori, popularly known as Mama Kerosine, following an intelligence-led operation in Ibadan.
The suspect, described as a major distributor of illicit drugs in the state, was apprehended on December 29, 2025, alongside another woman, Olusanya Abosede, 35. The arrest followed the seizure of 238.4 kilogrammes of skunk linked to the drug network.
In Borno State, the agency disrupted supply routes feeding illicit drugs to insurgents with the arrest of two suspects and the seizure of large quantities of tramadol.
A suspect, Isa Mohammed, 26, was arrested along the Maiduguri–Gamboru Ngala road with 9,150 ampoules of tramadol injection, while Musa Samaila, 30, was nabbed at Biu market with 34,000 tramadol capsules on the same day.
The spokesperson of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said additional seizures were recorded across several states.
He said in Lagos, operatives recovered about 400 kilogrammes of skunk and a van at the Mobolaji Johnson area on New Year’s Day.
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In Jigawa State, a suspect, Bilya Ibrahim, 39, was arrested at a motor park in Hadejia while attempting to transport 260 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 140.8 kilogrammes from Taraba State to Yobe State.
In Kwara State, NDLEA officers recovered 238.5 kilogrammes of skunk from a suspect’s residence in the Asadam area of Ilorin.
Another suspect, Abubakar Rabiu, 32, was arrested at Bode Saadu in Moro Local Government Area with 32,000 pills of tramadol and diazepam last Wednesday.
Babafemi noted that beyond enforcement operations, the agency intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns during the week, reaching schools, youth groups, worship centres and communities in states including Katsina, Lagos and Niger.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (rtd), urged commands nationwide to sustain and strengthen the agency’s drug control efforts.
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