The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has struck a heavy blow against international drug traffickers, busting a cartel with tentacles in Nigeria, the UK, Brazil, Australia, and the UAE. Three key figures were arrested, and a cocaine haul worth over ₦5.3 billion was seized.
According to NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the breakthrough came on August 26, 2025, at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Officers intercepted 76 cartons of textiles bound for Sydney, Australia. But hidden inside lace fabrics were 17.9kg of cocaine, cleverly concealed alongside traditional charms believed to offer “spiritual protection” against detection.
The first suspect, a freight agent named Olashupo Michael Oladimeji, was picked up at the airport. His arrest quickly unraveled a bigger web. Soon after, NDLEA nabbed Muaezee Ademola Ogunbiyi—described as the cartel’s Nigerian coordinator—at an Ikeja GRA hotel. A search of his Lekki residence revealed 21 parcels of Canadian Loud (10.9kg) and a pump-action rifle. Another kingpin, Shola Adegoke, was arrested during a raid on the syndicate’s packaging base, where officers recovered 9.6kg of Loud from a luxury SUV.
Further investigations traced the network’s overall leader to Dubai. Identified as Adebisi Ademola Omoyele, a.k.a. “Mr. Bee,” he remains at large. NDLEA also discovered that Adegoke had served jail time in the UK for meth trafficking, while Ogunbiyi spent 14 years behind bars in Britain for murder before resurfacing in Nigeria.
The agency’s crackdown didn’t stop there. At Onne Port, Rivers State, officers seized 160,200 bottles of codeine syrup worth ₦1.1 billion from a 40ft container. Across multiple states, NDLEA operatives also recovered 653kg of cannabis derivatives. Highlights of the raids include the arrest of a Milan-based Nigerian with 24,480 tramadol pills at Lagos Airport, a dispatch rider caught in Abuja with 3.1kg of Colorado, and the destruction of 18.7 tonnes of cannabis farms in Taraba.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), hailed the successful operation and praised his men for their resilience. He urged them to keep pushing the agency’s “balanced approach” of tough enforcement alongside community advocacy under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative.
