- Safiu Kehinde
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of illicit drugs concealed in frozen snails, electrical bulbs and female clothes heading to the United States, United Kingdom and Democratic Republic of Congo.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi.
According to the statement, the consignments were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and a courier company in Lagos.
The discovery of the illicit drugs led to the arrest and detention of two suspects linked to attempts to export them
One of them, a cargo agent Boladale Riliwan was arrested on the 7th October 2025 following the discovery of 15 parcels of skunk, a strain of cannabis, concealed in 10 pieces of giant rechargeable electrical bulbs.
He had reportedly presented the carton electrical bulbs for airfreight to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the export shed of the Lagos airport.
Also arrested and in custody in connection to the consignments is 48-year-old Olawale Oyebola Hakeemot who is a UK-based Public Health Assistant.
She was arrested on Sunday 12th October at the departure hall of terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja following the discovery of frozen snails used to conceal 2,300 pills of tramadol 225mg in her luggage while heading to Manchester, United Kingdom, on a Qatar Airways flight.
Attempt by another syndicate to export 810 pills of bromazepam hidden in female clothes going to the United States was also thwarted by NDLEA officers at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday 16th October.
In Adamawa, a suspect Bello Buba was intercepted at an NDLEA check point in Namtari, Yola South LGA with 38,270 pills of tramadol concealed in the spare tyre, boot, and door compartments of his Honda Civic car he drove all the way from Benin Republic to smuggle the consignment into Nigeria on Sunday 12th October.
While commending the NDLEA officers for the arrests, and seizures, the agency’s Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) urged them and their colleagues across the country not to relent in their ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.