…according to NDLEA, a total of 420 grams of cocaine were factory-fitted in 84 pieces of female lipsticks heading to the UK.
The iNews Times reports that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has made significant strides in its fight against drug trafficking in Nigeria as the agency in series of operations conducted across the country, intercepted cocaine consignments concealed in lipsticks and property title documents destined for the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
According to operatives of the NDLEA, a total of 420 grams of cocaine were factory-fitted in 84 pieces of female lipsticks heading to the UK, while 280 grams of the same Class A drug were uncovered in a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) being sent to Saudi Arabia.
The consignments it was gathered, were recovered from cargoes being prepared for shipment at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday, July 3, 2025.
The agency also announced the arrest of a notorious drug kingpin, Ajetsibo Emami, popularly known as ‘Warri Kinsman,’ in Ikeja, Lagos, on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Emami’s drug trafficking network was dismantled in a three-day operation, leading to the arrest of three other suspects.
Recovered from Emami’s network were 24 jumbo bags containing 681 pouches of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 414.2 kilograms.
In another operation, a businessman, Ajah Johnson Uchenna, his wife Rosemary, and their daughters Stella and Ngozi, as well as their family friend Okoro Elijah, were taken into custody after investigations revealed they ran a major illicit drug distribution network in Lagos.
The iNews Times learnt that the couple was first arrested on Friday, June 13, 2025, by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) in the Ojo area of the state and transferred to NDLEA with 277.5kg of skunk.
Further intelligence led to a raid of their home and packing store on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, where 231kg of the same substance was recovered.
Operatives of the agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, also intercepted a frequent flyer, Aburemi Hysent, who specialized in conveying goods from Nigeria to Italy and vice versa.
Hysent was found to have hidden 7,660 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg inside food items packed among other goods he was conveying to Italy. He claimed he was to be paid 800 euros upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Italy.
In another interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, a total of 52 traveller’s cheques worth 17,700,000 Australian dollars, concealed in children’s books, bound for Malaysia through Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, were intercepted by NDLEA operatives.
The traveller’s cheques, suspected to be counterfeit, and the suspect, a freight agent named Bolarinwa Saheed, will be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation.
The NDLEA continued its crackdown on drug trafficking, seizing 718 big balls of skunk weighing 359kg from a store in the Baba-Pupa area of Seme border community.
Operatives on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja highway intercepted 10,000 pills of tramadol 225mg and co-codamol, as well as 1.050kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Lagos, Seme, Kogi, Osun, Borno, Kano, Edo, Kaduna, Cross River, Kebbi, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
He praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
