…Busts another Saudi-bound cocaine shipment hidden in body creams

By Kingsley Omonobi

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have raided a hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, recovering 589 bags of illicit drugs weighing 417.3 kilogrammes, with a street value of One Billion, Forty-Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N1, 042,500,000).

According to the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, three suspects — Eze Ayitu, Ofuokwu Samuel, and Emmanuel Ameh — were arrested during the operation at the five-storey hotel between Friday, 25th and Saturday, 26th April 2025. Two other suspects, Noble Philip and his partner Kenneth, are currently at large.

Items suspected to be proceeds of illicit drug trade were recovered from the premises housing “The Hook Hotel,” also known as Caesar Hotel and Caesar Lounge, located at 16 Waziri Ibrahim Street, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The items recovered include: a Toyota Prado Land Cruiser Jeep (Lagos AKD 472 OZ); a Toyota Sienna (Lagos KJA 79 HJ); a Volkswagen delivery van (Lagos AAA 525 JE); a Kia Cerato (Lagos BDG 860 GQ); a Grand Caravan Dodge (Lagos APP 847 YF); 74 new TV sets; 10 used TV sets; and 13 refrigerators, among others.

Barely a week after NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) uncovered 20 parcels of cocaine concealed inside religious books bound for Saudi Arabia, operatives have again intercepted another shipment — 46 wraps of cocaine weighing 547 grams hidden in body cream, also headed to the Middle East.

The seizure was made on Wednesday, 23rd April, at a courier firm in Lagos. Another consignment intercepted the same day included 1.8 kg of pentazocine injection and 60 grams of bromazepam tablets, destined for Canada.
In another major interdiction in Jigawa State, followed by a subsequent operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence seized consignments of opioids.

being transported from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe State through Jigawa.

The psychoactive substances were being transported in a Toyota Sienna vehicle with registration number ABJ 182 NW around 2:30 a.m. along Kano-Ringim Road in Gumel Town, when anti-narcotic officers intercepted the vehicle and arrested two suspects: Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar, 29.

Recovered from the vehicle were 200,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin. A swift follow-up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the supplier, 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad, at his residence in Mil Tara, Layin Technical area of Kano.

An additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) were discovered and evacuated from a Nissan 18-seater bus (DAL 372 XA) and a room in his house, bringing the total number of recovered opioids to 2,001,500 pills.
At the Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, three Ghanaian women were arrested on Sunday, 20th April, at the Gbaji checkpoint by NDLEA operatives while attempting to smuggle 4.8 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.