Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Chinese businessman, Liang Tak You, and an 80-year-old grandmother, Mrs Grace Ekpeme, in nationwide interdiction operations that led to the seizure of consignments of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis hidden in moimoi sachets, and Canadian Loud, another strong strain of cannabis concealed in canned food items imported from Canada.
In another successful operation, the NDLEA intercepted Loud consignments in processed food cans from Canada, in Lagos, Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Ogun, Gombe, Kaduna, and Kogi raids.
Liang was arrested by operatives at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos on Friday, July 25, 2025, based on actionable intelligence. According to the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspect, who arrived in Nigeria from Bangkok via Dubai, UAE, on an Emirates Airline flight, is a Chinese national, naturalised and based in Malaysia, but flew to Thailand where he picked up two suitcases filled with 50 parcels of Loud weighing 26.10kg before heading to Nigeria via UAE.
Upon his arrival at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives, who were tracking his movement from his port of departure, allowed him to pass through necessary protocols before picking him up on his way out of the airport.
The octogenarian grandmother, Mrs Grace Ekpeme, was arrested at Edet-Nsa Street, Base Site, Calabar South, Cross River State, with over 3kg of skunk in the early hours of Saturday, July 26, following intelligence on her drug-dealing activities. In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, July 23, intercepted a suspect, Chidi Agbafo, along Epe–Ajah Expressway while taking consignments of 21.7kg of Colorado, some of which were packaged in moimoi cooking sachets, and 3.8 litres of codeine-based syrup in a commercial bus to deliver in Warri and Oghara, Delta State.
At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, a total of 101kg of Canadian Loud, factory-packed in 202 tins of imported food items labelled ‘Bean Salad Mix’ and concealed in two Toyota Sienna buses in a container that came from Canada, was recovered. The discovery was made during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA officers, men of the Customs Service, and other security agencies on Friday, July 25.
No fewer than 71,000 pills of tramadol, diazepam, and exol-5 were recovered from Usman Musa by NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja–Kaduna highway on Wednesday, July 23, when the suspect was travelling with the consignment of opioids in a commercial bus going to Kano. In Borno, a 30-year-old woman, Binta Usman, was arrested on Wednesday, July 23, by NDLEA officers who recovered 30.1kg of skunk from her house at Muna Moforo area of Maiduguri. A follow-up operation later led to the arrest of her accomplice, Bala Abdullahi, in the same area of the Borno State capital on Friday, July 25.
Three brothers, Nanna Ozirinye, Chizom Ozirinye, and Maxwell Ozirinye, were arrested on Saturday, July 26, when NDLEA operatives raided a cannabis plantation at Bending Corner Forest, Idoani, Ose Local Council Area of Ondo State, where they destroyed 2,500 kilograms of skunk on a hectare of land and recovered an already processed 121.4kg of the same psychoactive substance.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers on Wednesday, July 23, raided the Asakpa community in Benin City, where they arrested a 26-year-old woman, Bright Sunday Okon, and recovered various quantities of Colorado, Loud, Arizona, skunk, and methamphetamine from her. While a total of 105.4kg of skunk was recovered by NDLEA operatives from an abandoned Honda car marked ABC 204 KM in Keffi, Nasarawa State, their counterparts in Niger State on Monday, July 21, arrested a suspect, Bashir Abdullahi, with 6,400 pills of tramadol 225mg at Kasuwan Gwari area of Minna, even as a notorious drug dealer, Jamiu Omolaja, was taken into custody and 113kg of skunk retrieved from his enclave in Ifo, Ogun State, on Thursday, July 24, after a violent resistance and attack on NDLEA operatives by members of his gang.
A total of 10,910 capsules of tramadol were seized from a suspect, Adamu Adamu (a.k.a. Dankyado), by NDLEA officers on patrol along Gombe–Bajoga road, Gombe State, on Saturday, July 26, while operatives in Kogi State on Thursday, July 24, intercepted a consignment of skunk concealed inside garri, dried scent leaves, and other food items along Okene–Lokoja highway.
A follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of 27-year-old Kindness Bala, who was planning to travel to Katsina State with the cargo and later to Qatar. Similarly, operatives in Kogi on Saturday, July 26, recovered 23,600 pills of tramadol, 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection, and 700 grams of skunk from a truck at a motor park in Ayingba area of the state.
READ ALSO:
- Policeman’s sons in tragic clash as one allegedly murders the other
- ‘Nigerians must go’ protest rocks Accra
- LASTMA orders psychiatric tests for 18 motorists ‘caught driving against traffic’
The War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands continued across the country in the past week. Some of them include: WADA sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of Komu/Babaode High School, Babaode, Itesiwaju LGA, Oyo State; Beacon Christian Academy, Ngodo, Afikpo LGA, Ebonyi; Government Day Secondary School, Araba, Illela, Sokoto; and Government Junior College, Agege, Lagos; while the Anambra State Command of NDLEA paid WADA advocacy visits to the traditional rulers of Awka community, Obi Gibson Nwosu, Ezeuzu II, and Ukpo community, Igwe Robert Eze, Okofia VI, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Apapa, Lagos, Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Ogun, Gombe, Kaduna, and Kogi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
