The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives intercepted a large consignment of cocaine concealed in heads of imported dry stock fish.
The illicit substance was seized from a syndicate which distributes the consignment to different parts of the world, especially to India.
NDLEA stated that the smashing of the drug syndicate followed intelligence on their trans-border criminal activities.
The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Baba-Femi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
The statement disclosed that the substance was intercepted on Thursday, March 19, 2026, during a well-coordinated sting operation by operatives of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Strategic Command of the Agency at the Ojo area of Lagos.
According to the statement, in the course of the operation, three jumbo size bags were found in possession of the kingpin, identified as 36-year-old Akputa Dickson Ejike.
A search of the bags led to the recovery of 237 wraps of cocaine buried in the heads of imported dry stock fish locally known as ‘Okporoko’.
The cocaine pellets have a gross weight of 5.80 kilograms. The consignment was intended for export to Delhi, India.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, on Wednesday, March 25, intercepted two illicit consignments heading to the United Kingdom at a courier company.
In one of the shipments that originated from Cotonou, Benin Republic, 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine were found concealed in automobile filters while the second parcel contains 40 ampoules of morphine sulphate and nine ampoules of fentanyl.
In yet another interdiction operation, operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the agency on Thursday, March 26, raided the house of a female head of a notorious drug syndicate, 46-year-old Omolade Abigail Jolayemi at 13 Carter Street, Yaba, Lagos, where they arrested her and her sales girl, Sarah Zainab Agbabiaka, 31.
No fewer than 135 blocks of Ghana loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 76.30kg, were recovered from them. Omolade popularly known as Iya Ghana, trades in local fabric on the surface but beneath she runs a drug distribution network between Nigeria and Ghana.
Same day, the SOU operatives also arrested Anayo Lucky Ohabiro, 39, at Doyin bus stop, Surulere, Lagos following credible intelligence. A total of 78 blocks of Ghana loud weighing 41kg were seized from him.
In Ekiti State, an 80-year-old grandpa, Oke Samuel, was on Thursday 26th March arrested by NDLEA operatives during a special raid operation at Mosafuneto camp, Erinmo road, Efon-Alaaye Ekiti.
A total of 2.2kg skunk and 1.8grams of methamphetamine were recovered from him, while 894.72kg of same psychoactive substance was seized from another suspect, Enuwa Kehinde Kingsley, 37, when an uncompleted building was raided by NDLEA officers at Ogbese, in Akure North area of Ondo State same day.
Not less than 116.7kg skunk was recovered from a suspect, Saater Nyam, 35, during a raid operation at Pevi village, Guma LGA, Benue State, on Tuesday, March 24, while in Edo State, NDLEA operatives on Monday, March 23, uncovered a warehouse in Ekpoma town, Esan West LGA, leading to the arrest of a suspect, Felix Donald, 25, and the seizure of 576.5kg skunk and 33 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
In Taraba State, NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence on Tuesday, March 24, intercepted a truck marked DUT 457 ZB, conveying 100 blocks of compressed skunk weighing 135 kilograms concealed in bags of animal feed from Garbachede to Gombe state. Two suspects: Osama Mamuda, 21, and Auwal Umar, 22, were nabbed in connection with the seizure.