NDLEA Intercepts Drugs Hidden in Plantain Chips Package

Sunday May 25, 2025|

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a shipment of drugs concealed within packages labelled as plantain chips at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

This was disclosed in a statement accompanied by photos by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, and shared on the agency’s Facebook page on Sunday.

It read, “Narco-trend update: This consignment was packaged as plantain chips, but inside was a skunk, as discovered by vigilant #ndlea_nigeria officers in one of their latest seizures at Lagos airport,” he posted on X.

Babafemi admonished Nigerians to exercise vigilance when accepting packages for travel.

“Always be careful of what you’re given to travel with!”

The agency in a separate statement shared on its website disclosed that two Nigerians and two British nationals have been arrested while intercepting six million pills of opioids namely, tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg, and carisoprodol 225mg as well as 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup with a combined street value of N6.52 billion at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers and the Apapa seaport, Lagos.

The seizures at the Apapa and Onne ports followed intelligence and tracking of new trafficking routes to ship illicit substances into Nigeria by drug cartels, which necessitated the watch-listing of the containers for 100 percent examination.

It added that the consignments at the Port Harcourt ports, six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup, were uncovered in two containers on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th May 2025 during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers with men of the Nigeria Customs and other security agencies.

At the Apapa port in Lagos, a total of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a watch-listed container by NDLEA operatives during a similar joint examination exercise on Thursday 22nd May.

Babafemi said, “Two British nationals: Mhizha Jordan Alexander Tatendra and Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon,, as well as two Nigerians: Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami have been arrested by NDLEA operatives for attempting to smuggle into Nigeria 92 bags of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 51.10kg through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.

“Alexander was intercepted with the consignment upon his arrival at the MMIA on a Qatar Airline flight from Doha based on processed intelligence on Thursday 15th May.

“He was allowed to pass through the security control unhindered and closely monitored by NDLEA operatives to the car park, where the owner of the cargo, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, who is a Nigerian British, was waiting in an SUV along with his relation Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and the driver of the vehicle, Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, to receive the courier.”