The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of illicit drugs, including ketamine, ecstasy and tramadol pills, concealed in sachets of coffee mix and a book parcel bound for Zambia and the United Kingdom.
The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday.
Babafemi said the seizures were made on December 24 and 29, 2025, at a courier company in Lagos. He added that the development coincided with the arrest of 22 Indian crew members of a merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, intercepted at the GDNL Terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos, on January 2, 2026, with 31.5 kilograms of cocaine recovered on board.
According to the statement, the cocaine was discovered in hatch three of the vessel, which originated from the Marshall Islands.
Those detained include the vessel’s master, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, and 21 crew members: Bharati Manoj Kumar; Bhalerao Nilesh Mukund; Nadar Anthony Macson David; Kolusu Srinivasa Rao; Sagar Gaurav; Francis Anto Beemas Nester; Jagdeep Singh; Jai Parkash; Prabhukhan Singh; Nevage Sandesh Suresh; Pandey Prashant; Nittu Anand; Akash Babu; Dasari Raju; Reddy Nandika Sanjeeba; Rana Nivesh; Melethil Insaf Rahman; Barla Chantanya Krishna; Ghosh Arijit; Mondal Raihan; and Gangwar Shiv Om.
In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives on Monday arrested a wanted female drug kingpin, identified as Fatima Ilori, popularly known as ‘Mama Kerosine’, in an intelligence-led operation in Ibadan.
The 65-year-old grandmother, described as a major distributor of illicit drugs in the state capital, was arrested following the seizure of 238.4 kilograms of skunk linked to her.
She was apprehended alongside another suspect, Olusanya Abosede, 35, at the Onireke/Elekuro area of Ibadan.
The agency also recorded significant breakthroughs in Borno State, where its operatives disrupted the supply chain of illicit drugs to insurgents. One suspect, Isa Mohammed, 26, was arrested along the Maiduguri–Gamboru Ngala Road on Friday, January 2, 2026, with 9,150 ampoules of tramadol injection. Another suspect, Musa Samaila, 30, was nabbed the same day at Biu Market with 34,000 capsules of tramadol.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives recovered no fewer than 400 kilograms of skunk and a van at the Mobolaji Johnson area on New Year’s Day, Thursday, January 1. Similarly, a suspect, Bilya Ibrahim, 39, was arrested on December 30, 2025, at a motor park in Hadejia, Jigawa State, while attempting to transport 260 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 140.8 kilograms from Taraba State to Nguru in Yobe State.
In Kwara State, officers of the agency on December 30 recovered 238.5 kilograms of skunk from the residence of a suspect in the Asadam area of Ilorin. Additionally, 32,000 pills of tramadol and diazepam were seized from another suspect, Abubakar Rabiu, 32, at Bode Saadu in Moro Local Government Area on New Year’s Eve.
Commending officers and men of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) and commands in Apapa, Oyo, Borno, Lagos, Kwara and Jigawa for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel nationwide to sustain and intensify the agency’s ongoing drug control efforts.
