By Ada Ononye
In a week-long sweep across multiple states, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has taken down major players in Nigeria’s cross-border drug trafficking networks, seizing over 3.4 tonnes of Cannabis variants including Colorado, Loud, and Skunk, alongside more than 645,000 pills of Opioids in Lagos, Nasarawa, Kano, Gombe, and Edo states.
The most dramatic arrest came in Lagos where operatives, after months of surveillance, apprehended Prophet Adefolusho Aanu Olasele, founder and General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, for allegedly masterminding multiple drug shipments from Ghana into Nigeria.
NDLEA officers moved in moments after his Sunday service ended on 3rd August 2025 at his Okun Ajah church, ending a month-long manhunt that saw him twice evade arrest and flee to Ghana.
According to the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the cleric is accused of ferrying 200kg of “Ghana Loud” Cannabis seized at Okun Ajah beach on 4th June and another 700kg recovered from his delivery van on 6th July.
In other Lagos operations, NDLEA raided an Ikoyi apartment on 7th August, arresting Benjamin Udo Ukoh with 32 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 15.63kg.
In Nasarawa State on 9th August, operatives intercepted a massive 3,093kg Skunk consignment from three suspects at New Karu.
In Kano, arrests included a man with 359kg of Skunk, another with 9kg of Colorado, and a third caught with 20,000 Tramadol pills and Diazepam injections.
In Gombe, a raid at Tudun Wadan Pantami yielded over 550,000 Opioid pills, with more Tramadol seized the following day from another suspect.
In Edo, NDLEA intercepted a bus from Anambra carrying 23,940 Tramadol capsules, other Opioids, and injection ampoules.
While commending the states Commands, NDLEA Chairman retired Brigadier General Buba Marwa, urged officers to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control, combining high-impact enforcement with relentless public sensitisation.
(Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu)
