Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 50-year-old widow and fashion designer, Mrs Ifeoma Henrietta Ezewuike, for attempting to traffic 1.3 kilogrammes of cocaine using a fake pregnancy to evade detection.

Ezewuike, who runs Golden Star Creation, a fashion outfit on Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, was apprehended at a bus terminal in Jibowu, Yaba, on Friday, August 22, 2025, while trying to move the consignment to customers in Abuja.

A subsequent search of her residence in Ago Palace led to the recovery of 200 grammes of a cutting agent used in producing a strain of cocaine. She reportedly told investigators she inherited the illicit trade from her late husband, while maintaining she has been in the fashion business for two decades.

In a separate operation, NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted 90 parcels of Loud, a cannabis strain weighing 48.6kg, concealed in three cartons of kitchen sinks at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday, August 19. The consignment was imported from the United States.

In Adamawa, operatives raided the home of a notorious dealer, Idris Garba, who escaped by scaling a fence. One of his associates, 55-year-old Boniface Nnaji, was caught at Rumde Baru, Yola South. Officers seized a Toyota Thundra jeep marked FST-885-CZ and a Toyota Yaris with registration number DSA 776 AA, both linked to the supply of 354,480 tramadol pills.

Further seizures were recorded across Kogi and Kano. On Wednesday, August 20, a suspect, Neche Okonkwo, was arrested at Idah waterside, Lokoja, with 5,000 tramadol capsules, 400 ampoules of pentazocine and 200 ampoules of diazepam injections, after crossing the River Niger from Onitsha. In Kano, Buhari Ibrahim, 25, and Mansur Musa, 24, were nabbed with 5,850 capsules of pregabalin at Zangon Dakata Ungogo on Tuesday, August 19.

That same day, 452,070 opioid pills were recovered from the home of a fleeing suspect, Rabilu Mukhtar, in Rangaza, Ungogo LGA, while another man, Buhari Idris, 35, was arrested at Tashan Rami with 140 litres of codeine syrup. On Saturday, August 23, operatives also recovered 7,000 tramadol capsules from Adamu Yusuf, 29, along the Zaria-Kano road.

Kwara State recorded one of the largest hauls, as 2,289.49 kilogrammes of skunk were seized in three operations at Ajase-Ipo. On Wednesday, August 20, 1,232.86kg was recovered from a Mitsubishi Canter truck marked ZUR 66 XT, with a suspect, Kabiru Abdullahi, arrested.

Another 328.42kg was seized the same day from 47-year-old Paul Olaniran in a Mercedes-Benz truck marked LSD 659 YE. On Thursday, August 21, operatives intercepted 728.21kg of the same substance in a Mitsubishi Canter truck marked GAD 287 XA, arresting Abubakar Zaki, 44, and Yau Babangida, 45.

Similarly, NDLEA officers arrested two men, Awe Sunday, 50, and Ayodele Adedayo, 54, in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, over 96 kilogrammes of skunk recovered at Alafia Quarters.