NDLEA seizes cocaine shipment hidden within dry stock fish
...- Recovers Hard Drugs in UK-bound automobile parts shipments
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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has foiled an attempt to smuggle a large consignment of cocaine hidden in imported dry stock fish and arrested a key member of the syndicate involved in international trafficking of the substance, with significant operations targeting India.
The smashing of the drug syndicate followed intelligence on their trans-border criminal activities. This led to a well-coordinated sting operation by operatives of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Strategic Command of the Agency at the Ojo area of Lagos on Thursday 19th March 2026. In the course of the operation, three jumbo size bags were found in possession of the kingpin 36-year-old Akputa Dickson Ejike.
A search of the bags led to the recovery of Two Hundred and Thirty-Seven (237) wraps of cocaine buried in the heads of imported dry stock fish locally known as “Okporoko.” The cocaine pellets have a gross weight of 5.80 kilograms. The consignment was intended for export to Delhi, India.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) on Wednesday 25th March intercepted two illicit consignments heading to the United Kingdom at a courier company. In one of the shipments that originated from Cotonou, Benin Republic, 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine were found concealed in automobile filters while the second parcel contains 40 ampoules of Morphine Sulphate and nine ampoules of Fentanyl.
In yet another major interdiction operation, operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the Agency on Thursday 26th March raided the house of a female head of a notorious drug syndicate, 46-year-old Omolade Abigail Jolayemi at 13 Carter street, Yaba, Lagos where they arrested her and her sales girl, Sarah Zainab Agbabiaka, 31. No fewer than 135 blocks of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 76.30kg, were recovered from them. Omolade popularly known as Iya Ghana, trades in local fabric on the surface but beneath she runs a drug distribution network between Nigeria and Ghana.
Same day, the SOU operatives also arrested Anayo Lucky Ohabiro, 39, at Doyin bus stop, Surulere, Lagos following credible intelligence. A total of 78 blocks of Ghana Loud weighing 41kg were seized from him.
In his reaction, , Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended men and operatives of various commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts
Credit: NDLEA
