The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted cocaine concealed in a traditional wooden mortar and a backpack destined for China and Italy, as it intensified operations against drug trafficking across the country.
The agency also announced the arrest of a suspected notorious drug dealer in Rivers State and another suspect believed to have been transporting narcotics to criminal groups in Zamfara State.
In a statement, the NDLEA said operatives of its Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) uncovered the cocaine consignments during an operation at a logistics company in Lagos on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
According to the agency, 250 grammes of cocaine had been factory-fitted into the base of a traditional local mortar packaged for export to China, while another 500 grammes of the drug was concealed in a false compartment of a backpack billed for Italy.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested 38-year-old Ugo Gift Okonkwo during an intelligence-led raid at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, on July 26.
The agency described Okonkwo as a notorious drug dealer and said quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup were recovered from him.
In another operation, NDLEA officers intercepted a truck carrying 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kilogrammes during a stop-and-search operation at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha, Anambra State, on July 27.
The truck driver, Chinedu Nwanze, 40, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
In Delta State, operatives recovered 331.84 kilogrammes of skunk from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale-Ughelli Expressway on July 26.
The agency also arrested a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, in the Asso Angwan Muazu area of Karu, Nasarawa State, on July 28, with 68 kilogrammes of skunk and 29 grammes of methamphetamine.
In Zamfara State, NDLEA operatives intercepted 27-year-old Sani Umar along the Zaria-Gusau Highway while allegedly transporting 7,400 tablets of tramadol (225mg), which the agency said were suspected to be supplies intended for criminal elements operating in the region.
The NDLEA said the operations formed part of its sustained nationwide offensive against drug trafficking and abuse.
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