NDLEA busts Cocaine hidden in Lipsticks, documents headed for UK, Saudi

In a stunning twist of criminal ingenuity, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered cocaine consignments disguised inside everyday items including cosmetics and legal documents, in what authorities describe as an elaborate international smuggling scheme.

NDLEA’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday, said acting on intelligence, officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) stationed at a Lagos courier company intercepted two separate drug shipments on Thursday, July 3, 2025.

The first consignment consisted of 420 grams of cocaine ingeniously concealed inside 84 pieces of female lipsticks bound for the United Kingdom.

In the second, 280 grams of the same Class A substance were hidden within a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) destined for Saudi Arabia.

The agency said the seizures were part of ongoing efforts to curb the use of courier and logistics services by international drug trafficking syndicates.

According to NDLEA spokespersons, the concealment methods, using beauty products and official property documents, reflect a dangerous new trend among traffickers attempting to evade detection through increasingly deceptive means.

“This operation underscores the creativity and desperation of drug traffickers who are now embedding narcotics in consumer goods and paperwork to beat security systems,” the statement said.

Just a day earlier, on Wednesday, July 2, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, arrested a frequent flyer, Aburemi Hysent, in connection with another smuggling attempt.

Hysent, who routinely transports items between Nigeria and Italy, was caught hiding 7,660 pills of tramadol, a restricted opioid, inside food items.

He confessed to being a courier hired to deliver the drugs in exchange for €800.

Beyond Lagos, NDLEA operations extended to other states, with fresh arrests recorded in Osun and Cross River.

In Osogbo, two suspects, Agunbiade Folusho and Suleiman Dasola, were arrested with a total of 13,901 pills and ampoules of opioids. A separate raid in Ile-Ife led to the arrest of Adebayo Adewale, found with 48,205 pills of opioid-based drugs.

In another sting at a vulcanizer’s shop in Alekuwodo, three suspects were caught with tramadol, pentazocine injections, and bottles of codeine syrup.

Meanwhile, in Cross River State, a 78-year-old man, Mike Abeng, was arrested with 14.49kg of skunk and tramadol during a raid in Ofudua, Obubra Local Government Area. Three others—Oyom Akam, Sylvester Odem, and Moses Ayo, were also apprehended in Ovonum, Obubra, with varying quantities of illegal substances.

NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the vigilance of the operatives involved in these seizures, describing the string of successful interceptions as a strong message to drug cartels attempting to exploit unconventional methods for international trafficking.