LAGOS – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a cleric, Afolabi Hodonu, 45, and his wife, Success Hodonu, 35, who are in charge of a church in the Agonvi Sea Beach area of Sakpo, Seme Border, Badagry in Lagos State.
They were arrested on Thursday, April 2, 2026, by the NDLEA operatives at Gbaji checkpoint.
A search of their Honda Pilot SUV led to the recovery of blocks of skunk weighing 11kg concealed in hidden parts of their vehicle.
However, the arrest of the couple followed the apprehension of a fake security agent, Sunday Samuel, 35, at the same checkpoint on Monday, March 30, 2026, while conveying 24.5kg of skunk from Seme border to Lagos.
Also, the anti-narcotics agents have successfully dismantled a drug trafficking syndicate during an operation that lasted three weeks.
The operation led to the uncovering of cocaine consignments concealed in tins of palm kernel extract, and the warehouse where the shipments are packaged were raided while all three layers of the group were unravelled, leading to the arrest of the kingpin.
The breakthrough began on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, when the NDLEA officers of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Strategic Command in Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted 3.10 kilogrammes of cocaine at the export shed of the airport. The illicit substance was hidden inside tins of palm kernel extract intended for shipment to the United Kingdom (UK).
Two suspects handling the shipment, Idris Olayiwola Amoo and Akinlami Akinsoji Adedoyin, were promptly arrested.
To unravel the sender and the arrowhead of the drug syndicate, a well-coordinated sting operation was carried out on Thursday, April 2, 2026, leading to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Ezemuwo Joel, who operates under a fake identity as Ajayi.
His arrest provided the link to the syndicate’s head, 52-year-old King Arinze, who was flushed out of his hideout in the Isolo area of Lagos.
He was thereafter taken to his warehouse at 11, Ola Ifa Street, Bucknor, Isolo, where the NDLEA operatives recovered 886 tins of palm kernel extract prepared for drug concealment, industrial tools, including a sealing machine, tin openers; paint sprays, 52 grammes of cannabis sativa and a pack of hand gloves.
Arinze has since confessed to personally draining the oil from the tins to conceal the cocaine.
In a separate operation in Borno State, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, intercepted a female drug supplier to bandit groups operating between the North-East region of Nigeria and Chad, 28-year-old Aisha Adamu.
She was arrested along Gamboru Ngala Road in possession of 4.3 kilogrammes of colorado, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Namtari Road, Yola South, on Monday, March 30, 2026, intercepted a trailer with registration number RUW 947 XA transporting 48,000 pills of tramadol.
The truck driver, Abdulaziz Ismail Korede, was arrested while a follow-up operation led to the arrest of the recipient, Idris Adamu.
Meanwhile, as a 60-year-old Idiatu Oladejo was arrested with 15kg of skunk in Isale Osun, Osogbo, Osun State on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, raided the Itaogbolu Forest in Akure, Ondo State, where they recovered 351 kilogrammes of skunk and its seeds.
About 28,600 capsules of tramadol were seized from a 66-year-old Aminu Usman Gembu when he was arrested at Aliade, Benue State, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
In Edo State, a suspect, Roland Owie, 37, was arrested on Monday, March 30, 2026 following the raid of his warehouse at Egbanke community, Orhionmwon Local Council of the state, where 1,378 kilogrammes of skunk were recovered.
Also, a notorious drug dealer, 40-year-old Ayantola Omodunmomi (a.k.a. Iya Elle), was arrested at Eleta area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
She was arrested following an intelligence report and surveillance on how she uses her 11-year-old daughter, Anjola, to deliver illicit drugs to her customers. At the time of her arrest, 45.6kg of skunk was recovered from her warehouse.
The war against drug abuse social advocacy activities by the NDLEA’s commands also continued across the country in the past week. Some of them include sensitisation lectures for students and members of staff of Okere Grammar School, Saki, Oyo; Shasha Comprehensive High School, Alimosho, Lagos; Ma’ahad Ahmad Turaki Islamiyya, Sabon-Gari, Kano; Ezi-Awka Community Secondary School, Awka, Anambra, and Madrasatul Ihsan, Area One Tsafe, Zamfara State, among others.
Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Seme, Borno, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Edo, Adamawa, and Benue commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
He also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
“These successful operations are a testament to the agency’s evolving intelligence capabilities and our unwavering commitment to choking the supply lines of drug cartels. Whether they hide behind legitimate businesses, religious titles, or complex concealment methods, we will find them,” Marwa stated.
