Written by
Ishioma Appiah-Yeboah
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA have intercepted consignments of cocaine and dangerous opioids cleverly concealed in cartons meant for shipment to the United Kingdom and Australia.
The seizures were made at a courier company in Lagos during a routine inspection of outbound cargo on Friday, May 15th , 2026.
The NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi in a statement said, about 170grams of cocaine, carefully wrapped in cellophane and hidden inside the walls of a carton filled with clothes, was uncovered in a package destined for Australia.
In another shipment heading to the United Kingdom, operatives recovered a cache of opioids, including 200 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 1,100 capsules of tramadol, and 100 ampoules of promethazine injection concealed among other items.
Meanwhile, in Kaduna State, NDLEA operatives also intensified their crackdown on illicit drugs and criminal networks. During a raid at the Dan Magaji area of Zaria town, officers recovered 361 kilograms of skunk and arrested a 42 year old suspect identified as Husaini Suleiman.
In a separate operation along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, NDLEA officers intercepted a large cache of military-grade ammunition hidden inside bags of garri. Authorities say a 35 year-old suspect, Abdullahi Hassan, was caught transporting 1,989 rounds of RLA 7.62 millimetre ammunition.
The suspect and the recovered ammunition have since been handed over to another security agency for further investigation.
According to the NDLEA, the latest operations highlight growing concerns over the use of courier services and major highways by drug traffickers and criminal syndicates, as security agencies continue efforts to disrupt illegal drug supply chains and related crimes across the country.