The Nationwide Drug Regulation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) has intensified its nationwide crackdown on illicit drug manufacturing and trafficking, with the arrest of a suspected drug kingpin working a Colorado artificial hashish laboratory in Oyo State, alongside a number of high-value seizures throughout a number of states.
That is in accordance with an announcement issued on Sunday in Abuja by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
He confirmed that operatives dismantled the unlawful facility situated in Badeku, Ibadan, and arrested the principal suspect together with an confederate on Saturday, February 7, 2026.
What they’re saying
In response to the company, officers recovered eight litres of precursor chemical substances used within the manufacturing of artificial hashish, 14 grammes of skunk, and varied Colorado manufacturing paraphernalia from the location.
- Additionally seized had been N7.4 million in money and two automobiles, a Mercedes-Benz SUV and a Toyota Highlander, suspected to be proceeds of drug trafficking.
- Past Oyo State, the NDLEA recorded vital interceptions throughout the nation. In Kwara State, operatives intercepted a petroleum tanker travelling from Lagos to Maiduguri. A radical search of the car uncovered 395,400 capsules of tramadol hid throughout the truck, resulting in the arrest of the driving force.
Within the South-East, a husband and spouse had been arrested in Imo State with 203 kilograms of skunk, whereas one other 420 kilograms of the identical substance was recovered throughout an operation in Ondo State. The company stated the seizures replicate rising efforts by traffickers to maneuver massive portions of hashish throughout regional routes.
- In the meantime, NDLEA’s Marine Command seized 31 wraps of cocaine hid in a purse at Yekeme, Badagry, Lagos State. The suspect, in accordance with Babafemi, arrived from Côte d’Ivoire by way of a passenger boat on Friday, highlighting the continued use of waterways for cross-border drug smuggling.
Additional operations in Lagos led to the arrest of a suspect on February 4 at Lagos Island with 3.6 kilograms of Canadian Loud and Colorado, two high-grade artificial hashish variants. In Enugu State, NDLEA operatives arrested a seller at Asata, Ezeagu, recovering portions of skunk, methamphetamine, cocaine, molly, and N457,700 in money.
Backstory
The most recent bust in Oyo State provides to a sustained surge in NDLEA enforcement actions throughout the state and past. Between January and August 2025, the NDLEA Oyo State Command arrested 280 suspects and secured 43 convictions for offences associated to the trafficking, distribution, and use of illicit medicine.
The arrests, in accordance with the state commander, Mr. Olayinka Joe-Fadile, lower throughout traffickers, street-level sellers, and drug customers.
Joe-Fadile disclosed the figures throughout an interview with the Information Company of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan, noting that enforcement efforts had been scaled up in response to rising drug abuse and arranged trafficking networks.
Past home operations, the NDLEA has additionally flagged rising issues round cross-border drug trafficking. In January 2026, the company arrested a 37-year-old businessman, Ani Onyebuchi Romans, for trying to visitors 5.3 kilograms of tramadol to Cameroon.
The opioids had been ingeniously hid inside full-body mannequins, highlighting more and more subtle smuggling methods used to evade legislation enforcement.
The arrest, disclosed in an announcement by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, bolstered issues over Nigeria’s position as each a transit and supply nation in regional opioid trafficking routes.
What You Ought to Know
The NDLEA has considerably expanded intelligence-led operations focusing on each native drug labs and worldwide trafficking syndicates.
The 2-week operation, coordinated throughout a number of areas in Lagos, was described by the NDLEA as considered one of its most advanced intelligence-driven interventions in 2025.
In response to the company, proceeds from illicit drug commerce more and more fund different felony actions, posing broader dangers to financial stability, public well being, and nationwide safety.
