KEY POINTS
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NDLEA drug trafficking convictions followed major cocaine, tramadol, and cannabis seizures.
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Investigators recovered drugs, cash, and vehicles linked to trafficking networks.
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Courts handed down prison terms and fines in both NDLEA drug trafficking convictions cases.
Following the seizure of cocaine, tramadol, and cannabis shipments connected to operations transporting goods through Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Nigeria’s narcotics enforcement agency has successfully obtained convictions against five members of international trafficking networks. The prosecutions, which included two different cartels, resulted in the seizure of cash and vehicles to the government and a total of 21 years in prison.
NDLEA drug trafficking convictions deepen probes
Following the finding of 17.9 kilograms of cocaine at the airport’s export shed in late August 2025, three suspected leaders of one of the gangs were taken into custody by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency investigators. The pills were en route to Sydney, wrapped in local charms and enclosed in textile items. Following the operation, police visited the suspects’ residences and found 20.5 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a premium cannabis strain, in one of the men’s homes in Lekki, Muaezee Ademola Ogunbiyi. At the residence of another defendant, Sola Adegoke, in Ikeja GRA, they also discovered a black Range Rover SUV.
According to The Guardian, the Federal High Court in Lagos’s Justice Musa Kakaki presented the three men—Olasupo Michael Oladimeji, Ogunbiyi, and Adegoke—with five charges. When they appeared in court on October 30, they all entered guilty pleas. The next day, Justice Kakaki sentenced them to five years in prison. The Range Rover and a Toyota Venza that were seized during the inquiry were also forfeited to the federal government by the judge.
Two suspected coordinators were arrested at the end of a different investigation into a different network. The NDLEA claims that Uzorchukwu Godspower Chukwurah and Obunike Joseph Obichukwu were connected to the concealment of 27.90 kilos of tramadol and 2.60 kilograms of cocaine in motor spare parts that were headed for Gabon. On July 19, officers seized the products at the Lagos airport.
Court actions reinforce NDLEA drug trafficking convictions
Following the inquiry, both individuals were hauled before Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa on November 4 after being charged with six charges. They pleaded guilty. Each of them was given a three-year prison sentence by the court, with the option to pay N2 million to avoid completing their time. Additionally, Obichukwu acknowledged offering N4 million as a bribe to NDLEA agents, and Justice Lewis-Allagoa ordered that the money be given to the federal government.
