NDLEA nabs 22 Indians in Coffee, Apapa Cocaine smuggling bust

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recorded fresh breakthroughs in the agency’s sustained offensive against drug trafficking, with the interception of illicit substances concealed in coffee sachets and the arrest of 22 Indian crew members over a major cocaine seizure at the Apapa port in Lagos.

Speaking on the operations in a statement on Sunday, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the seizures were the outcome of intelligence-led actions carried out by operatives at a courier company in Lagos on December 24 and 29, 2025.

He explained that consignments of Ketamine, Ecstasy and Tramadol pills were discovered hidden inside sachets of coffee mix and book parcels destined for Zambia and the United Kingdom.

Babafemi said the courier interceptions coincided with another major operation at the GDNL terminal, Apapa, where NDLEA officers on January 2, 2026, uncovered 31.5 kilograms of cocaine concealed in hatch three of a merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, which arrived from the Marshall Islands.

He added that 22 Indian crew members, including the vessel’s master, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, were taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

The NDLEA spokesman further said operatives in Oyo State arrested a wanted female drug kingpin, 65-year-old Fatima Ilori, popularly known as Mama Kerosine, during an intelligence-driven raid in Ibadan.

According to him, the suspect, a major distributor of illicit drugs in the city, was arrested alongside another woman after 238.4 kilograms of skunk were linked to her network.

Babafemi also said the agency disrupted drug supply chains to insurgents in Borno State with the arrest of two suspects and the seizure of large quantities of Tramadol injections and capsules in Maiduguri and Biu.

He stated that similar operations in Lagos, Kwara and Jigawa States led to the recovery of more than 700 kilograms of skunk and thousands of opioid pills.

Commending the officers involved, Babafemi said the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), had charged all commands to intensify ongoing drug control efforts nationwide, while the agency continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns across communities and institutions.