The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) weekend conducted a major raid on a hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, recovering illicit drug consignments valued at over N1.042 billion and arresting several suspects involved in narcotics distribution networks across the country.
Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said operatives raided an 80-room newly constructed facility, identified as The Hook Hotel, also known as Caesar Hotel and Caesar Lounge, located at 16 Waziri Ibrahim Street, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island.
After several hours of meticulous room-to-room search between Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26, 2025, the officers recovered 589 bags of Canadian Loud, a highly potent strain of cannabis, weighing 417.3 kilograms with an estimated street value of N1, 042,500,000.
Three suspects, Eze Ayitu, Ofuokwu Samuel, and Emmanuel Ameh, were apprehended at the five-storey hotel during the operation. However, two others, Noble Philip and his associate Kenneth, remain at large.
In a separate operation in Jigawa state, with a swift follow-up in Kano, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a Toyota Sienna vehicle marked ABJ 182 NW at around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 23.
Inside the vehicle were massive consignments of opioids destined for Niger Republic and Yobe state. Two suspects, Abba Ibrahim (28) and Shuaibu Umar (29), were also arrested.
A coordinated follow-up led to the arrest of 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad at his residence in Mil Tara, Layin Technical area, Kano. Officers discovered an additional 1,584,000 pills of Tramadol (250mg) hidden inside a Nissan 18-seater bus (marked DAL 372 XA) and a room in the house.
Barely a week after uncovering 20 parcels of cocaine hidden inside religious books bound for Saudi Arabia, NDLEA’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted another shipment on April 23.
This time, 46 wraps of cocaine weighing 547 grams were hidden inside containers of body cream at a courier company in Lagos, destined again for the Middle East.
Additionally, a consignment containing 1.8kg of pentazocine injections and 60 grams of bromazepam tablets heading to Canada was intercepted on the same day.
Speaking on the string of successes, NDLEA chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), praised the operatives for their tenacity and reiterated the agency’s commitment to dismantling drug trafficking networks across Nigeria.
“These achievements underscore the NDLEA’s resolve to make Nigeria an unfavourable environment for drug cartels and their criminal enterprises,” Marwa stated.