The Nationwide Drug Regulation Enforcement Company has arrested an ex-convict, Nwobodo Chidiebere Basil, and three cargo brokers over the seizure of cocaine hid in liquid starch sachets and destined for the UK.
The NDLEA stated 75 parcels of cocaine weighing 1.50 kilogrammes had been recovered from factory-sealed cold-water starch sachets on the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
A press release launched on Sunday by the company’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, stated three cargo brokers — Jubrin Hassana, Kuku Oluwasegun and Igwe Jane — had been arrested on Saturday, December 20, 2025, in reference to the consignment.
He stated additional investigation linked the cargo to 37-year-old Nwobodo, who was arrested the next day at a rest centre in Ikeja.
The assertion partly learn, “A infamous drug trafficker, Nwobodo Basil, beforehand convicted of dealing in 30.10kg methamphetamine in 2023, has once more been arrested by operatives of the NDLEA following the seizure of 75 parcels of cocaine weighing 1.50 kilograms hid in factory-sealed sachets of cold-water starch heading to the UK on the export shed of the MMIA Ikeja, Lagos.
“Three cargo brokers: Jubrin Firdausi Hassana, Kuku Daniel Oluwasegun, and Igwe Chioma Jane, concerned within the try and export the consignment to the UK, had been swiftly arrested on Saturday, twentieth December 2025, earlier than additional investigations unravelled 37-year-old Nwobodo Chidiebere Basil because the mastermind. He was arrested in a follow-up operation on Sunday, twenty first December at a well-liked rest centre in Ikeja, the place he went on a date along with his girlfriend.”
Babafemi stated the company’s information confirmed that Nwobodo had earlier been arrested in Could 2023 over the seizure of 30.10kg of methamphetamine hid in powdered custard containers and headed for London.
“He was subsequently arraigned at a Federal Excessive Courtroom in cost quantity: FHC/L/337C/2023, convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with an choice of a nice of ₦7,000,000.00, together with one-month neighborhood service, with impact from 4th December, 2023. He paid the nice and shortly after returned to the identical crime, ” he stated.
He additionally stated a 65-year-old driver was arrested in Gombe State with pentazocine injections and tramadol capsules, whereas a businessman, Ignatius Egbochie (alias Brown), was picked up in Lagos over an earlier seizure of 26kg of “loud” hashish at Tincan port.
“In Gombe state, a 65-year-old driver Sada’u Mohammed was arrested whereas conveying 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection, and 27,900 capsules of tramadol, and different opioids, alongside the Gombe-Biu freeway, heading to Biu in Borno state.
In the meantime, a 47-year-old businessman Ignatius Egbochie (alias Brown) needed in reference to the seizure of 56 parcels of Loud, a pressure of hashish, weighing 26kg on the Tincan seaport in Lagos, has been arrested by NDLEA operatives.
“The illicit drug consignment was seized on tenth December throughout a joint examination of a container by NDLEA, Customs and different safety companies. A follow-up operation by NDLEA operatives on nineteenth December led to the arrest of Ignatius in Apapa,” the assertion stated.
In separate operations, Babafemi stated NDLEA operatives destroyed warehouses and seized massive portions of hashish in Ekiti, Edo, Cross River, Abuja, Lagos and Taraba between December 21 and 25, 2025, with a number of suspects arrested.
“In one other profitable operation, NDLEA operatives on Monday, December 22, set ablaze tons of skunk, a pressure of hashish and wood warehouses in Ara forest, Ara-Ekiti, the place 638 kilograms of the identical psychoactive substance had been additionally recovered. No fewer than 1,205 blocks of compressed hashish sativa, weighing 883.1kg had been recovered from three Toyota Camry automobiles intercepted by NDLEA operatives on patrol alongside Igara-Auchi highway, Edo state on Monday, twenty second December.
“In Cross River state, raid operations performed on Sunday, twenty first December at Agoi-Ibami neighborhood, Yakurr LGA, led to the arrest of three suspects and seizure of assorted portions of skunk. They embody: Freedom Jonah Akpama, 27, with 671kg; David Itam David, 30, with 89kg; and Nelson Arikpo Osam, 26, with 148kg, ” the assertion added.
Final Sunday, PUNCH On-line reported that NDLEA operatives arrested one Shodunke Simbiat, a fugitive member of a cocaine trafficking syndicate who hid illicit medicine in her youngsters’s room.
