Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 74-year-old grandpa at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja for attempting to smuggle 11 kilograms of cocaine to the United Kingdom.
The agency also intercepted 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Babafemi said the septuagenarian suspect, identified as Ikwuakalom Nwakoro Emeka, was arrested on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the departure hall of the Abuja airport while attempting to board a British Airways flight to London.
According to him, a search of the suspect’s luggage led to the discovery of blocks of cocaine weighing 11 kilograms concealed inside food items, including ground dry pepper, and carefully wrapped in foil papers and balloons.
In a related operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence in the early hours of Monday, March 9, arrested a woman, Maryam Olalowo, at Ikad Hotel and Suites on Etim Inyang Street, Victoria Island, while she was attempting to sell 89 grams of cocaine and 20 grams of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis.
He noted that she was found with her three children, including an infant, at the time of her arrest. Investigations later revealed that the drugs belonged to her husband, Ibrahim Olalowo Olatunji, who was subsequently arrested the same day, while the woman was released.
The husband reportedly confirmed ownership of the drugs during interrogation. Further investigation also revealed that he had previously been arrested, convicted and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for a similar offence in 2015.
In another interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Kalilou Simpara and Saidu Ibrahim, at Ebute Ero on Lagos Island where 68,000 pills of tramadol (250mg and 225mg) were recovered from them after they had loaded the drugs into a truck and were preparing to transport them to the Benin Republic on Monday, March 9.
A follow-up operation carried out on Wednesday, March 11, at Idumota Market, Lagos Island, led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignment, Nnamdi Cyprian. A search of his shop uncovered a parcel already prepared for waybill delivery containing 1,000 tablets of tramadol.
Another raid at Idumota Market on Friday, March 13, resulted in the arrest of Nwanosike Kelvin and the recovery of 47,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection from his shop.
Meanwhile, in the Bebeji area of Kano, NDLEA operatives arrested a 42-year-old suspect, Magaji Dan Azumi, with 386 kilograms of skunk on Tuesday, March 10.
Similarly, NDLEA officers in Abuja recovered 282.2 kilograms of skunk from a suspect, Isah Wako, 42, during an operation in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory on Friday, March 13.
In Edo State, operatives raided the Egwa Forest Reserve in Aduhan village, Orhionmwon Local Government Area, where a suspect, Chinedu Odalonu, 33, was arrested. During the raid, two cannabis farms containing a total of 4,218.96 kilograms of skunk were destroyed, while 16.5 kilograms of the substance were recovered.
In another major seizure, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup in two containers at Apapa seaport on Saturday, March 14. The containers had earlier been watch-listed by the agency following intelligence reports on the concealment of opioids in them.
