NDLEA Seizes Cocaine Hidden In Stockfish Bound For India
According to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), a sizable shipment of cocaine that was hidden in the heads of imported dry stock fish was discovered by its agents. The illegal material was taken from a syndicate that distributes the shipment to many countries, particularly India.
According to NDLEA, information about the drug syndicate’s transnational illegal activity led to their dismantling.
This was declared in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.
According to the statement, on Thursday, March 19, 2026, agents from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Strategic Command of the Agency, conducted a well-planned sting operation in the Ojo neighbourhood of Lagos. The statement claims that during the operation, three large bags were discovered in the hands of the kingpin, Akputa Dickson Ejike, 36.
237 wraps of cocaine hidden in the heads of imported dried stock fish called locally as “Okporoko” were found during an examination of the bags. The total weight of the cocaine pellets is 5.80 kg. The shipment was meant to be exported to Delhi, India.
On Wednesday, March 25, NDLEA agents from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, conducted another operation in Lagos where they stopped two illegal shipments that were going to the UK at a courier service.
1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine were discovered hidden in car filters in one cargo that came from Cotonou, Benin Republic, while the second package had 40 ampoules of morphine sulphate and nine ampoules of fentanyl.
In yet another interdiction operation, on Thursday, March 26, agents from the agency’s Special Operations Unit raided the home of 46-year-old Omolade Abigail Jolayemi, the head of a well-known drug syndicate, at 13 Carter Street in Yaba, Lagos. They arrested both Jolayemi and her sales girl, Sarah Zainab Agbabiaka, 31.
They were found to have 135 blocks of Ghana loud, a kind of cannabis that weighed 76.30 kg. Omolade, also known as Iya Ghana, operates a drug distribution network between Ghana and Nigeria under the guise of a local fabric trader.
Following reliable information, SOU agents also detained 39-year-old Anayo Lucky Ohabiro at the Doyin bus stop in Surulere, Lagos, on the same day. He was found in possession of 78 blocks of Ghana loud, each weighing 41 kg.
Oke Samuel, an 80-year-old grandfather in Ekiti State, was taken into custody by NDLEA agents on Thursday, March 26, during a special raid operation at Mosafuneto Camp, Erinmo Road, Efon-Alaaye Ekiti.
He was found to have 2.2 kilogram of skunk and 1.8 grams of methamphetamine. On the same day, NDLEA officers stormed an unfinished structure at Ogbese, in the Akure North region of Ondo State, and found 894.72 kg of the same psychoactive substance in another suspect, Enuwa Kehinde Kingsley, 37.
On Tuesday, March 24, a raid operation in Pevi village, Guma LGA, Benue State, yielded at least 116.7 kg of skunk from a suspect, Saater Nyam, 35. Meanwhile, on Monday, March 23, NDLEA agents in Edo State discovered a warehouse in Ekpoma town, Esan West LGA, which resulted in the arrest of a suspect, Felix Donald, 25, and the seizure of codeine-based syrup and 33 bottles.
On Tuesday, March 24, NDLEA officials in Taraba State, acting on reliable information, stopped a vehicle with the license plate DUT 457 ZB. The truck was transporting 100 blocks of compressed skunk, totalling 135 kg, from Garbachede to Gombe state. In relation to the seizure, two suspects were apprehended: Osama Mamuda, 21, and Auwal Umar, 22.
