The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a shipment of cocaine cleverly concealed in religious books and destined for Saudi Arabia.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the discovery was made on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, during a routine inspection of outbound cargo by officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) at a courier company in Lagos. The consignment contained 20 parcels of cocaine weighing a total of 500 grams, carefully hidden within 20 religious books.
“The concealment was particularly deceptive, as the drugs were stashed inside pages of what appeared to be ordinary religious texts,” Babafemi said in a statement issued Sunday, April 20.
On the same day, NDLEA officers at another courier firm in Lagos also intercepted five parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 2.8 kilograms. The illegal substance was hidden inside a carton shipped from the United States.
In addition to Lagos, NDLEA operatives made significant arrests and seizures across several other states:
In Kano, 22-year-old Muhammad Mohammed was arrested on Sunday, April 13, while traveling along the Bichi–Kano road. He was caught with 277 ampoules of pentazocine injection, a restricted substance, strapped to his body. On the same day, another suspect, Mohammed Abdulrahman Abdulaziz, 43, was arrested in the Rimin Kebe area of Nasarawa, Kano, with 68 blocks of skunk (cannabis), weighing 30 kilograms.
In Bayelsa State, a raid conducted on Wednesday, April 16, at a house on Major General Isaiah Alison Street in Opolo, Yenagoa, led to the seizure of 557.2kg of skunk, 5.6kg of methamphetamine, and 29.8 grams of heroin. Four suspects were arrested: Sarimiye Suwa Kurtis (46), Roland Prosper (34), Sarimiye Tare Paul (45), and Fidelis Ugbesla (46).
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives seized 1,100 kilograms of skunk from a delivery van. The driver, Ismail Abdullahi, was arrested in the Surulere area on Thursday, April 17.
In Kaduna, a raid in Zaria on Friday, April 18, led to the recovery of 31,950 pills of tramadol (225mg) and diazepam from the residence of a suspect, Ike Ani (30).
Meanwhile, the NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative continues to expand across Nigeria with sensitisation lectures and educational campaigns in schools, workplaces, and religious centres.
