On August 12, 2024, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, NDLEA operatives apprehended a businessman named Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, who was headed to Vietnam. Mbadugha, who is 54 years old, was caught at the boarding gate of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432, which was bound for Hanoi, Vietnam with a stopover in Doha. After being placed under observation, he excreted 88 wraps of cocaine, totaling 1.710 kilograms. Mbadugha claimed he was a businessman from Lagos and said a friend in Isolo gave him the drug to deliver in Vietnam for $2,000.
In a separate operation at the export shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA officers seized a shipment of synthetic cannabis known as Loud, weighing 800 grams. The drug was hidden inside noodle packages and was destined for Congo. Following this, they arrested Nnamani Sunday Sunny, the sender of the shipment, at Alaba International Market in Lagos. Sunny, who is involved in GSM handset sales, was caught in connection with this shipment.
Furthermore, NDLEA operatives recovered a large quantity of Loud imported from Canada at the Lagos airport. Suspect Desalu Taophic Temitope was arrested after arriving on an Air France flight with six boxes. During a joint inspection by various security agencies, 65.80 kilograms of the drug were found in four of the six suitcases. Desalu claimed that he and an accomplice, who is still at large, were promised $10,000 for delivering the shipment to Lagos.
Additionally, NDLEA operatives discovered a massive haul of codeine-based syrup at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Onne, Rivers State. On August 14th and 15th, they recovered 892,400 bottles of the syrup, with a street value of N6,246,800,000. The syrup was packed in 5,337 cartons, weighing 133,860 kilograms, and had been shipped from India in five containers.
In Ekiti State, on August 14, NDLEA agents, supported by the Nigerian Army, other security agencies, and local youths, raided the Ise forest reserve. They destroyed 21,800 kilograms of cannabis sativa cultivated on 20 hectares of farmland. The following day, August 15, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Onitsha-Enugu road in Enugu seized 200.2 kilograms of cannabis from a Sienna bus and arrested the driver, Okoro Emmanuel, who is 41 years old.
Also on August 12, NDLEA agents in Kano arrested Joseph Apeh, 45, and Diamond Nnabuike, 21, with 145,400 pills of tramadol. On August 13, in Ogun State, they apprehended 70-year-old Fidelis Egede and three others—Samuel Sylvanus (31), Jato Samson (33), and Francis Blessing (28)—for cultivating cannabis on six hectares at Alaka village.
In Abuja, on August 13, NDLEA officers intercepted a truck on Kwali-Gwagwalada expressway, seizing 30,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection and arresting three suspects: Ifeanyi Sunday, Jeremiah Paul, and Edet Ubokobong. On August 15, in Niger State, Ifeanyi Chukwueze was arrested in Kontagora with 28,500 tramadol pills concealed in a loudspeaker. Meanwhile, in Kogi State on August 14, Abba Yakubu was caught with 40,000 tramadol pills heading to Kontagora, and Tochukwu Onah, 39, was arrested in Lokoja on August 15 with 1,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
