The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has uncovered and dismantled a drug trafficking syndicate in high stakes intelligence led operations that lasted three weeks during which cocaine consignments concealed in tins of palm kernel extract heading to the United Kingdom were intercepted.
The NDLEA also raided the warehouse where the shipments are packaged and arrested the kingpin responsible for the consignment.
NDLEA’s spokesperson Femi Babafemi said the breakthrough began on March 11, 2026, when NDLEA officers of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Strategic Command Ikeja Lagos intercepted 3.10 kilograms of cocaine at the export shed of the airport.
The illicit substance was meticulously hidden inside tins of palm kernel extract intended for shipment to the UK.
He said “two suspects handling the shipment, Idris Olayiwola Amoo and Akinlami Akinsoji Adedoyin were promptly arrested. To unravel the sender and the arrowhead of the drug syndicate, a well-coordinated sting operation was carried out on April 2nd leading to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Ezemuwo Joel, who operates under a fake identity as Ajayi.
“His arrest provided the link to the syndicate’s head, 52-year-old King Arinze who was flushed out of a hideout in the Isolo area of Lagos. He was thereafter taken to his warehouse at 11, Ola Ifa Street, Bucknor, Isolo where NDLEA operatives recovered
886 tins of palm kernel extract prepared for drug concealment; industrial tools including a sealing machine, tin openers; paint sprays; 52 grams of cannabis sativa and a pack of hand gloves.
“Arinze has since confessed to personally draining the oil from the tins to conceal the cocaine. ”
In a separate but equally significant operation in Borno State, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, April 1st, intercepted a female drug supplier to bandit groups operating between the North East and Chad, 28-year-old Aisha Adamu. She was arrested along Gamboru Ngala road in possession of 4.3 kilograms of Colorado, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis.
Meanwhile, the pastor in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Agonvi Sea Beach, Sakpo area of Seme border, Badagry in Lagos state, Pastor Afolabi Hodonu, 45, and his wife, Mrs. Success Hodonu, 35, were on Thursday, April 2nd, arrested by NDLEA operatives at Gbaji checkpoint. A search of their Honda Pilot SUV led to the recovery of blocks of skunk weighing 11kg concealed in hidden parts of their vehicle.
The arrest of the couple followed the apprehension of a fake security agent Sunday Samuel, 35, at the same checkpoint on Monday March 30, while conveying 24.5kg skunk from Seme border to Lagos.
