NDLEA RECOVERS N1BN WORTH OF DRUGS, OTHER ITEMS IN LAGOS HOTEL RAID
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An 80-room hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, allegedly used as a front for the distribution of illicit substances, has been raided by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
After hours of searching the premises, officers recovered 589 bags of Canadian Loud — a potent strain of cannabis — with a total weight of 417.3 kilograms and an estimated street value of ₦1,042,500,000.
During the operation, which took place between April 25 and 26, 2025, at the five-storey building, three suspects — Eze Ayitu, Ofuokwu Samuel, and Emmanuel Ameh — were arrested. Two other suspects, Noble Philip and his associate Kenneth, remain at large.
In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja, said that items believed to be proceeds of drug trafficking were also recovered from the property, which houses The Hook Hotel, also known as Caesar Hotel and Caesar Lounge, located at 16 Waziri Ibrahim Street, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island.
The recovered items include: Toyota Prado Landcruiser Jeep (Lagos AKD 472 OZ); Toyota Sienna Vehicle (Lagos KJA 79 HJ); Volkswagen Delivery Van (Lagos AAA 525 JE); Kia Ceranto Car (Lagos BDG 860 GQ); Grand Caravan Dodge (Lagos APP 847 YF); 74 new TV sets; 10 used TV sets; and 13 refrigerators, among others.
In another major interdiction in Jigawa State with a follow up operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence on April 23 seized consignments of opioids being moved from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe State through Jigawa.
The psychoactive substances were being moved in a Toyota Sienna vehicle marked ABJ 182 NW at about 2:30am on Wednesday along Kano- Ringim road, Gumel town, when anti-narcotic officers on patrol intercepted them with two suspects: Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar, 29, arrested.
Recovered from the Sienna vehicle were 200,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin. A swift follow up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the supplier, 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad, at his residence located at Mil Tara, Layin Technical area of Kano while additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol 250mg stacked inside a Nissan 18-seater bus marked DAL 372 XA and a room in his house were discovered and evacuated.
This brings the total number of recovered opioids to 2,001,500 pills.
According to Babafemi, a total of 3,814.9kg skunk was destroyed on two farms in Ugbodu community, Ovia North East LGA, Edo state on Thursday April 24 when NDLEA operatives raided the plantations where three suspects: Samuel Samson, 26; Daniel Peter, 20; and Abel Edah, 31, were arrested.
He said the War Against Drug Abuse, social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands, equally continued across the country in the past week.
“Some of them include: WADA sensitisation lecture delivered to students and staff of Dan-Doro Community Arabic Secondary School, Doro, Katsina; St. James Anglican School, Badariya, Kebbi; Federal Government Girls College, Tambuwal, Sokoto; and members of Oganiru age grade, Onitsha, Anambra, while the Lagos State Strategic Command of NDLEA paid WADA advocacy visit to the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, HRM Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi, among others,” he added.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Edo and Seme Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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