The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Europe-based Nigerian businessmen attempting to smuggle 200 wraps of cocaine to France through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, as nationwide operations across several states led to the seizure of large consignments of illicit drugs and 266 rounds of AK-47 ammunition.
The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were arrested on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF 832 from Abuja to Paris.
According to a statement issued on Sunday, November 1, by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the two men had arrived in Nigeria for holidays but were intercepted while attempting to return to France with cocaine concealed in their stomachs.
A body scan conducted on Odife, who claimed to reside in France and work in a factory, revealed foreign objects in his stomach. He subsequently admitted ingesting 110 pellets of cocaine and excreted all of them, weighing 1.901 kilogrammes.
His co-traveller, Blackborn, was also arrested after a body scan confirmed that he had swallowed 90 cocaine pellets. He later excreted the wraps, weighing 1.559 kilogrammes.
The combined seizure from the two suspects amounted to 200 pellets of cocaine weighing 3.460 kilogrammes. Both men were placed under medical observation during the process.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two vehicles transporting large consignments of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, following intelligence on its movement from Lagos Island to the Mainland.
On October 25, operatives intercepted a white Volkswagen LT 28 bus along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, recovering 537 kilogrammes of skunk. Another team intercepted a brown J5 bus along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway the same day, seizing an additional 439 kilogrammes.
In Oyo State, two suspects, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on October 29 while loading 554 kilogrammes of skunk into a Volvo truck at Idere Road, Igboora.
The operation was linked to a suspected drug trafficking network headed by a notorious kingpin identified as Omo Oba, following an earlier seizure of 309.5 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud allegedly connected to the network.
In Kano State, operatives raided the Tsamiya area of Gezawa on October 26, recovering 247,500 diazepam tablets weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 Exol-5 tablets weighing 38.7 kilogrammes.
Two days later, another operation in the Dorayi area led to the arrest of Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, with 19,250 tablets of tramadol, 225mg, weighing 13.6 kilogrammes.
Meanwhile, NDLEA highway patrol officers intercepted a woman, Aisha Isah, at a toll gate along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway and recovered 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition from her possession.
In another operation along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, a 68-year-old suspect, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 diazepam tablets and 4,500 Exol-5 tablets.
A separate raid at Tashan Banke in Kaduna State resulted in the arrest of seven suspects, including Faisal Adamu, and the recovery of 178.85 kilogrammes of cannabis, alongside quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives raided cannabis plantations hidden inside Ijare Forest on October 25, arresting four suspected members of a farming syndicate, including Bassey Okon, 24; Abraham Edet, 20; and Oto Udo, 24.
The operation led to the recovery of 16 bags of freshly processed cannabis weighing 180 kilogrammes.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, working alongside Nigerian Army personnel, raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South East Local Government Area, on October 28.
The operation resulted in the destruction of a 1.646-hectare cannabis plantation with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilogrammes.
A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested with 301 kilogrammes of processed cannabis, while another 176 kilogrammes was recovered at the site.
Similarly, in Sokoto State, operatives of the NDLEA Zone 7 Command arrested 68-year-old Ibrahim Ayuba on October 31 with 236.6 kilogrammes of skunk during an intelligence-led operation.
Beyond the arrests and seizures, the agency said its commands and formations sustained public enlightenment activities under its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign.
The sensitisation exercises were conducted in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities across the country, including Obawole Grammar School II in Ojodu, Lagos; Nsukka High School in Enugu State; Government Technical College, Dorayi Babba, Kano State; and Ajagbe Comprehensive High School in Iperu, Ogun State.
Reacting to the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers and men of the Abuja airport, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo and Edo commands for their efforts.
Marwa particularly warned international drug trafficking syndicates against using Nigeria as a transit point, saying the arrest of the two Europe-bound cocaine couriers demonstrated that overseas residency would not shield anyone involved in drug trafficking.
He maintained that NDLEA personnel at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant, warning that there was no hiding place for anyone willing to risk their lives and freedom by ingesting illicit drugs for financial gain.
The NDLEA chairman also directed commands and formations nationwide to sustain the crackdown on drug trafficking networks while strengthening drug demand reduction efforts through intensified WADA campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.