The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State and arrested a Mexican national it identified as an alleged drug kingpin. The operation has exposed what the agency says is a wider transnational drug network in Nigeria. The suspect, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, was arrested on August 19 at…
Nigeria’s latest NDLEA drug bust has exposed two very different sides of the country’s growing drug trafficking problem. At Lagos airport, the agency intercepted N6.2 billion worth of drugs, including Captagon and millions of opioid tablets, while in Ogun State, a mother was arrested for allegedly trying to take a psychoactive drug to her son…
Liberia has charged former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking and money laundering, turning a major cocaine investigation into one of the country’s most politically sensitive criminal cases. The Justice Ministry announced the charges on Thursday, August 20, 2026, after Howard-Taylor was arrested at Roberts International Airport while attempting to leave the country. She…
Nigeria’s drug problem is becoming harder to ignore. In just a few days, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has announced a series of major operations involving cocaine, cannabis, opioids and other illicit substances across the country. The cases involve a social media influencer, a businessman who allegedly sold his legitimate business to finance…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s latest destruction of cannabis farms in Edo State has reopened an argument Nigeria has struggled with for years: is the country destroying an illegal drug problem, or destroying a potential legal industry before it has decided what that industry could become? On August 17, NDLEA operatives destroyed two cannabis…
Erling Haaland has unexpectedly become part of a major drug seizure in Ecuador — not because of anything he did, but because traffickers allegedly used the Manchester City and Norway star’s image to mark packages in a shipment of cocaine. Ecuadorian police seized 469 kilograms of cocaine packed into 370 packages after stopping a truck…
The trial over what authorities describe as Nigeria’s largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory took a dramatic turn on Wednesday as the Federal High Court physically inspected the sprawling facility hidden inside a remote forest in Mowe, Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State. The visit came as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intensified…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared alleged drug kingpin Nnamuka Kelvin Uchenna, popularly known as “Odogwu,” and three of his associates wanted over their alleged involvement in operating a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Imo State. The agency also secured a court order freezing ₦9.84 billion linked to the suspects and obtained interim…
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area Command, has intercepted 4,143.5 kilograms of cannabis indica with a Duty Paid Value of approximately ₦26.5 billion, concealed inside a container carrying imported used vehicles at the Apapa Port in Lagos. The seizure was made during a joint operation with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) following…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its crackdown on drug trafficking, arresting multiple suspects across Nigeria after uncovering cocaine and other illicit drugs concealed in fake plantains, beverage cartons and modified vehicle fuel tanks. One of the most high-profile arrests involved a 67-year-old Nigerian-British woman, identified as Mary Yetunde Barek, who was…
