The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered multiple attempts to smuggle illicit drugs out of the country using unusual methods, including concealment in frozen snails, electrical bulbs and women’s clothing.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the intercepted consignments were bound for the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Babafemi revealed the seizures were made at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos and at a courier company in the state, and two suspects linked to the trafficking attempts have been arrested.
One of them, identified as cargo agent Boladale Riliwan, was arrested on 7 October after 15 parcels of cannabis, known as skunk, were discovered stuffed inside ten large rechargeable bulbs destined for the DRC.
In another operation, NDLEA officers apprehended a 48-year-old UK-based public health assistant, Olawale Oyebola Hakeemot, at the MMIA on 12 October.
Hakeemot was allegedly found with 2,300 Tramadol 225mg pills concealed inside frozen snails while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Manchester.
Similarly, on 16 October, operatives foiled an attempt to export 810 pills of bromazepam hidden within female clothing through a Lagos courier service to the United States.
The agency also reported major drug busts across several states.
In Adamawa, a suspect, Bello Buba, was arrested at an NDLEA checkpoint in Namtari, Yola South, with 38,270 Tramadol pills concealed in various compartments of his Honda Civic.
Buba was said to have driven from Benin Republic to smuggle the drugs into Nigeria.
Large-scale cannabis farms were also destroyed in Ilawe-Ekiti, Ekiti State where operatives cleared 21.3 hectares of cannabis farmland, amounting to 53,250 kilograms between 12 and 13 October, recovering 70 bags of skunk weighing 1,140 kilograms and arresting three suspects: Matthew Emmanuel, 26; James Moses, 27; and Israel Samuel, 20.
A similar operation in Aponmu Forest Reserve, Akure, Ondo State, led to the destruction of another 17,400 kilograms of skunk on 6.96 hectares of land.
Additional arrests and seizures were recorded across Oyo, Ogun, Imo, Enugu and Lagos States including 596kg of skunk in Igboora, Oyo State, 273kg in Igangan, and 88kg in Ona-Imeko, Ogun State.
Others were 13,000 opioid pills along Onitsha–Owerri Road in Imo State, 74.5kg from a store in Umuogbo-Agu Village, Enugu State, and 117kg recovered from a base in Mushin, Lagos.
In a joint operation with the Nigeria Customs Service at Apapa Port on 14 October, the agency intercepted 80,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup in a watch-listed container.
Babafemi added that NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign continues nationwide, with sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres and workplaces, including institutions in Ekiti, Rivers, Katsina and Ogun States.
According to him, NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the operatives for their vigilance and urged them to maintain a "balanced approach" in combating drug trafficking and abuse.
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