After five years of evading arrest, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Okpara Chigozie, 60, alleged to be a leader of a major drug trafficking network.
Gatekeepers News reports that the suspect was arrested at a residence on Michael Ojo Street in Isheri, Ojo, Lagos, following the interception of a drug shipment along the Apapa-Oshodi expressway.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi disclosed that the agency first apprehended one of Okpara’s couriers, Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi, during the early hours of July 13, 2025.
Nnamdi was caught transporting narcotics to Onitsha in a white Toyota Sienna. Upon searching the vehicle with sniffer dogs, officers uncovered 7.6 kilograms of cocaine and 900 grams of methamphetamine concealed in hidden compartments.
This led to a swift follow-up raid at Okpara’s residence, where operatives recovered an additional 1.8kg of cocaine and 1.3kg of methamphetamine.
In another operation at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with aviation security, intercepted 7,790 tablets of tramadol and rohypnol from a passenger identified as Omoregie Nice Uyiosa.
The suspect, who was traveling to Italy via Istanbul, admitted that he bought the drugs intending to resell them abroad.
Also at the airport, 1.70kg of skunk was discovered hidden in cereal packs in a cargo shipment bound for Pakistan. The individual who submitted the consignment, Chioba Robert Uchenna, was taken into custody.
Within Lagos, a raid on Sarah Sam Hotels on Ogudu Road, Kosofe, led to the seizure of 1.3kg of cannabis, 900g of drug-laced gummies, and 22.9g of skunk from a suspect named Obayemi Oyetade. Three vehicles found on the premises were also confiscated.
Similar operations were carried out across several other states. In Kaduna, three men were caught with over 742kg of cannabis and synthetic substances.
In Kano, 36,000 tramadol tablets were seized from a vehicle. Gombe saw the recovery of 25,000 pills and nearly 30kg of skunk from multiple suspects.
In Borno, a large stash of 74,360 opioid pills was found in a vehicle in Maiduguri, while in Bayelsa, a 63-year-old woman was found with 163 litres of a psychoactive liquid substance.
Along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi, four men were arrested with 2kg of methamphetamine. In Aba, Abia State, NDLEA officers raided a suspected dealer’s base, recovering heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, tramadol, and over N736,000 in cash.
Enugu recorded a seizure of 45,000 tramadol pills during a routine highway check. In Taraba, suspects were found in possession of 10,000 capsules of tramadol and a small amount of cannabis.
Additionalky, in a forest in Osun State, operatives of the agency destroyed 101,150 kilograms of skunk in one of the largest cannabis seizures in the region.
