The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its offensive against drug trafficking syndicates, recording remarkable success across multiple states in the first week of December 2025.ย
The latest raid has been described by anti-narcotics analysts as one of the most extensive crackdowns on illegal drug networks in 2025.
As part of its weekly counter-narcotics brief, Spear News reports that the agency, through a string of intelligence-driven operations, intercepted over 7.6 million tramadol tablets and 76,273.4 kilograms of assorted cannabis strains, including Colorado, Loud and Skunk, while dismantling deep-forest warehouses that have operated as long-standing drug hubs.
These seizures, made in Delta, Imo, Adamawa, Ekiti, Ondo, Lagos, Niger, FCT Abuja, Kano, and Edo, signal a more aggressive and strategic approach to disrupting the economics of the illegal drug trade in Nigeria, and they arrive at a time when public health concerns around substance abuse are at a national high.
The first of the major recoveries took place in Asaba, Delta State, where NDLEA raiding teams stormed a warehouse located around Oko Market on Saturday 6 December 2025. From the building, agents seized no fewer than 3,874,000 pills of tramadol ranging from 225mg to 100mg strength, alongside 252.2 litres of codeine syrup. The warehouse, believed to be a major distribution point in Southern Nigeria, had been monitored for weeks following intelligence obtained from informants.
The agencyโs swift interception prevented what could have been a widespread Christmas season distribution wave. Barely seventy-two hours earlier in Imo State, operatives on patrol along Orogwe axis of OnitshaโOwerri Road apprehended a vehicle conveying 1.2 million tramadol 225mg tablets. The consignment, loaded in Aba and bound for Onitsha, was traced to one Kelechi Nwakocha, 35, whose arrest, investigators say, is expected to open up a network of supply contacts running between commercial hubs in the South-East.
From the North-East came another large strike, this time on Monday, 1 December 2025. A Toyota Hiace bus bearing registration number MGU 554 XB was flagged down along MarabaโMubi road in Adamawa State after officers noticed anomalies in its cargo.
The bus, travelling from Jos into Mubi, was found to be transporting 1,577,112 capsules of tramadol and exol-5 tablets, concealed deep inside jumbo bags mixed deliberately with brand new rubber footwear.
Two suspects, Kabiru Buba, 25, and Hamza Abubakar, 32, were taken into custody, while investigators began mapping out the distribution points intended for the smuggled pills. A separate arrest followed along ZariaโKano road where 27-year-old Mudansir Rabiu was intercepted with 197,000 exol-5 tablets.
According to NDLEA field officers, operations in this corridor have intensified due to high trafficking traffic, indicating a growing pattern of drug movement through northern transit roads.
In Ekiti State, the agency deepened its on-ground push beyond highways into thick, guarded forest bases where cultivation and storage often flourish undisturbed. A special NDLEA tactical team stormed Omuo-Ekiti forests, destroying 14,654 kilograms of skunk in concealed farm plots while arresting two suspects, identified as Yusuf Iliyasu, 50, and Okumu Chinedu, 26.
Hours later, another coordinated sweep in Asin-Ekiti, Ikole LGA, uncovered two massive drug warehouses where 54,300 kilograms of skunk were burnt to ash, ending what officials describe as years of silent, forest-based criminal enterprise. 28.3 kilograms were preserved as court evidence.
These crackdowns reflect a new model of drug policingโone that moves beyond surface checkpoints and into deep rural terrains where syndicates often feel insulated by vegetation, remoteness and local protection networks.
In neighbouring Ondo State, the agency struck yet another nerve. Acting on consolidated intelligence reports, NDLEA operatives raided Igoba forest in Akure North LGA on Tuesday, 2 December, recovering 2,483 compressed blocks of skunk and 247 bags, totalling 5,442 kilograms.
Five suspects were arrestedโJacob Omodowo, 66; Joy Oluatobi Peace, 24; Babatunde Olamide, 40; Echi Fidelis Joseph, 57; and Ankrah Akano, 56โreflecting the wide age range of individuals tied to the trade. In Niger State, officers along MokwaโJebba road intercepted a Mercedes Benz van marked MGU 614 XB carrying 500 kilograms of cannabis, arresting the driver, Amos Yakubu, 46. Meanwhile, Abuja operations recorded significant success.
A consignment of Coloradoโsynthetic cannabisโwas seized at Abaji Expressway weighing 22 kilograms, leading to a follow-up sting at Jabi Park where female receiver, Ali Blessing, 33, was arrested. Another suspect, Aliyu Usman, 39, was later caught along KwaliโGwagwalada corridor with 24 kilograms of skunk and 573,500 exol-5 pills.
From Lagos, NDLEA strike units recovered 217 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 113 kilograms from a dealer identified as Ezenwa Udoka at Ladipo Market, Mushin. Separate raids on 5 December at Onipanu led to the arrest of Izuchukwu Usulor with 351 kilograms of skunk, while on Tuesday 2 December, Trade Fair Complex in Ojo witnessed the arrest of Susan Okoro and recovery of 104.1 kilograms of cannabis.
Edo State completed the weekโs operation tally. Two Honda Accord cars discovered in Agho forest, Akoko Edo LGA, contained a combined 447.5 kilograms of skunk, leading to the arrest of 56-year-old Dada Adedara Babawibi. In the Isiefve community of Ohuwunde LGA, NDLEA stormed a hidden warehouse, seizing 315.8 kilograms of cannabis and apprehending one Stanley Obasuwa.
Officers confirm that further arrests are underway as ongoing interrogation unravels connection nodes between storage owners, harvesters, transporters and city-based distributors.
Beyond seizures, NDLEA has persisted in its dual-response anti-drug missionโfighting supply while weakening demand. Across the week, various command formations continued advocacy under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative, taking sensitisation lectures to St. Michaelโs Academy, Sabon Gari, Kano; Harry Pass Secondary School, Masaje, Gboko LGA, Benue; and Community Junior Secondary School, Okuru-Ama, Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers State. Officers engaged students, teachers, religious leaders and community influencers, emphasising the escalating risk of narcotics circulation in Nigeria and the take-over of young populations by synthetic opioids.
The sensitisation effort, which some experts argue is as critical as law enforcement, seeks to build immunity through awarenessโcreating communities that recognise, reject and report drug patterns.
Reacting to the accomplishments, NDLEA Chairman and CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended personnel across all states involved in the weekโs operations, praising both tactical execution and preventive outreach. He emphasised appreciation for Special Operations Units and state Commands in Delta, Adamawa, Imo, Ondo, Lagos, Kano, FCT, Niger and Edo, noting that the agencyโs dual thrustโsupply disruption and demand controlโremains the most effective strategy toward national rehabilitation.
He reiterated NDLEAโs resolve to sustain momentum through the festive period, a period historically exploited by traffickers who bank on high market demand and movement frequency.
Spear News continues to track the nationโs anti-drug trajectory as NDLEA steps up national drug intercepts, forest destruction operations, syndicate dismantling and youth-targeted sensitisation.
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