Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted consignments of cocaine concealed inside a local mortar and the false bottom of a backpack, both packaged for shipment to China and Italy through a logistics company in Lagos.
The agency said the seizures were made by officers of its Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
According to the NDLEA, 250 grams of cocaine was factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar packed in a carton destined for China, while another 500 grams was hidden in the false bottom of a backpack being shipped to Italy.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old suspected drug dealer, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, following credible intelligence. He was apprehended on Sunday, July 26, with various quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup.
In Anambra State, officers on stop-and-search duty at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha intercepted a truck with registration number XK 131 BDG loaded with 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kilograms. The truck driver, 40-year-old Chinedu Nwanze, was arrested during the operation carried out on Monday, July 27.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives recovered 1.84 kilograms of skunk from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale-Ughelli Expressway in Delta State on Sunday, July 26.
In Nasarawa State, officers arrested a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, on Tuesday, July 28, at Asso Angwan Muazu in the Karu area of the state. He was found in possession of 68 kilograms of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine.
Also in Zamfara State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Zaria-Gusau Highway intercepted 27-year-old Sani Umar on Monday, July 27, while he was conveying 7,400 pills of tramadol (225mg), suspected to be supplies intended for criminal elements.
Beyond enforcement operations, the agency said its commands and formations nationwide sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign with sensitisation programmes in schools, workplaces, worship centres and communities.
The awareness campaign featured lectures for students and staff of Hausawa Special Primary School in Kano, Royal Crown School in Oluyole, Ibadan, Government Secondary School in Ibi, Taraba State, and commercial drivers at the Challenge Bus Terminal Park in Ibadan, Oyo State, among other locations.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations as well as the Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Nasarawa and Zamfara commands for the successful operations.
He urged them and other personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control through aggressive enforcement and continuous public sensitisation.