Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered and dismantled a social media network used to distribute illicit substances packaged as imported Christmas cookies and snacks with two masterminds arrested and taken into custody after a raid on their hideout in Lekki area of Lagos State.
The drug syndicate run by Deji Adesanya and Olubiyi Majekodunmi had imported consignments of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, and a variety of colourful designer sachets with pictures and labels of cookies and snacks printed on them, and used to package the psychoactive substance in retail quantities.
Following credible intelligence about the activities of the syndicate, which operates and distributes through a WhatsApp platform, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, November 22, 2025 raided their apartment at Ojulari Street, Ikate area of Lekki, where a large quantity of the designer sachets and five kilogrammes of Loud were recovered from them at the point of their arrest.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, November 27, arrested a 38-year-old drug kingpin, Philip Ucheka, while taking delivery of 110 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 55.6kg at Ladipo area of Mushin.
At the point of his arrest, three delivery vehicles were also seized from him.
At a courier company in Lagos, 100 grammes of Loud concealed in teddy bear imported from Thailand were intercepted on Thursday, November 27, while a consignment of 548 capsules of tramadol hidden in bottles of Vitamin C and Magnesium going to the United Kingdom were recovered at another logistics firm the following day.
In Oyo State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Lagos/Ibadan expressway on Saturday, nabbed a suspect, Wasiu Kareem, 55, with 8,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 590 bottles of codeine syrup, 1,500 pills of Co-codamol and 9,900 capsules of tramadol.
About seven suspects were arrested on Monday, November 24, when NDLEA operatives raided the Ipe forest in Akoko South-East area of Ondo where they recovered 3,077 kilogrammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis.
Those arrested are John Ede, Ede Ndubuisi, Ikenna Abe, Eze Chukwuma, Maduabuchi Odo, Nnaji Chudubem and George Okowor.
While Anthony Sylvester, 49, was arrested along Okene/Lokoja highway, Kogi State, conveying 649kg of skunk in a truck on Wednesday, November 26, NDLEA officers at the Seme Special Area Command on Friday, raided a warehouse at Ashipa, Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, where they arrested a suspect Abubakar Shuaibu, 33, with 487 blocks of skunk weighing 243.5kg.
In Kano, Tsalha Alasan, 47, was arrested along Zaria/Kano road with 137kg of skunk on Monday, November 24, while three suspects, Godspower Appeal, 50; Ernest Upong, 55; and Godday Chukwudi, 38, were nabbed on Wednesday, November 26, with 322 blocks of skunk weighing 209kg at Fanshanu Village, Toro Local Council, Bauchi State.
A black Toyota Highlander jeep marked ABJ 533 EA used in conveying the consignment was also recovered from them.
A suspect John Ekojo, 51, was arrested with 210.15kg of skunk along Abuja/Jos highway on Saturday, while a couple: Abdullahi Abubakar, 45, and Jamila Abdullahi, 35, were nabbed along Abuja/Kaduna highway with 725 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a sack of maize. Another suspect, Awwal Sabiu, 20, was caught with 400 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition at Abuja/Kaduna tollgate on Friday.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Seme and Bauchi commands for the various successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the agency.
