NDLEA busts warehouse in Lagos, recovers N6.7bn drugs

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recovered illicit drugs worth over N6.7 billion from a warehouse in a residential estate in Lagos.

The NDLEA officers also apprehended a suspected baron, Onyekachi Nwanagu, and five members of his gang during the operation.

The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.

Babafemi said the operation was carried out after credible intelligence that the drug trafficking organisation was about distributing over 7.2 million pills of tramadol 225mg and 526,200 bottles (52.6 million mls) of codeine syrup warehoused in a residential compound in the Isheri area of Isolo, Lagos state, ahead of Christmas.

Babafemi stated that the officers of a Special Operations Unit of NDLEA led a coordinated operation between November 19 and 20 to round up members of the syndicate and dismantle their criminal network.

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He noted that members of the drug trafficking organisation, Egbo Innocent Udalor and Chukwe Emmanuel, were trailed and arrested at Apple Junction, Festac area of Lagos on November 19 while conveying 300 cartons of opioids in a truck.

The NDLEA spokesman said a follow-up operation to the syndicate’s warehouse at Bucknor on November 20 led to the arrest of Nwanagu and other members of his syndicate including Nwoye Sunday Ali, Nnacho Ogochukwu, and Oraghalia Chukwuebuka Philip.

“In all, a total of 7,272,000 pills of tramadol 225mg worth N3,960,000,000 and 53 million mills of codeine syrup valued at over N2,762,550,000, bringing the combined value of the seized drugs to N6,722,550,000 only in street value were recovered and moved out of the estate in eleven trucks to NDLEA’s central exhibit complex in Lagos,” Babafemi disclosed.

Commending the anti-narcotic officers involved in the dismantling of the syndicate, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), lauded the officers’ professionalism and dedication, describing the breakthrough as a major blow to the cartels preying on Nigerian youth.

The Star