The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted consignments of cocaine and tramadol 225mg concealed in 71 vehicle side mirrors being sent to Libreville, Gabon, through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State.
No fewer than three suspects linked to the cargo have been arrested.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Babafemi revealed that the first batch of the consignment, consisting 57,420 pills of tramadol 225mg and 57 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.60kg, was intercepted in a cargo going to Gabon on Air Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday, July 19.
Babafemi stated that a popular cargo agent, Ihekweme Osinachi Benedict, who was handling the shipment was immediately arrested, after which further investigation led to the arrest of another suspect, Uzochukwu Godspower Chukwurah, on Sunday, July 20.
The NDLEA spokesman disclosed that 11 parcels of cocaine with a total weight of 1kg were later recovered from four additional side mirrors being prepared for export, found in the home of Uzochukwu on Monday, July 21, bringing the total number of parcels of cocaine to 68 weighing 2.60 kilograms.
Babafemi added that NDLEA operatives, on Friday, August 1, arrested a businesswoman, Nwafor Roseann Nneka, at her shop within the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos State following the interception of 100 grams of cocaine and 300 grams of phenacetine, a cutting agent concealed in ladies’ lipsticks going to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, through the export shed of the Lagos airport on July 10.
He disclosed that two cargo agents linked to the shipment were earlier arrested before the eventual arrest of Nneka, who runs the criminal trade as a family business with her husband, Remigus Nwafor, currently on the run.
He quoted Nwafor as admitting that she bought the lipsticks used to conceal the illicit drugs while her husband handled the actual concealment.
