Key Points

• NDLEA cocaine syndicate dismantled after six UK-bound shipments.

• Key suspects arrested in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt.

• NDLEA cocaine syndicate linked to global trafficking network.

Nigeria’s anti-drug agency has broken up a major cocaine trafficking ring that was sending at least six high-value shipments to the UK. This is the end of one of the country’s most complicated anti-drug operations in recent years.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said that the cartel had strong ties to air, sea, and logistics networks. They used front companies to hide drugs in shipments of food and industrial goods going to other countries. The arrests came after months of coordinated intelligence sharing between the NDLEA and the UK Border Force. Earlier this year, the UK Border Force had seized several shipments linked to Nigeria at Heathrow Airport.

Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), the head of the NDLEA, said that the operation was “a turning point in our fight against international drug trafficking.” He also said that the syndicate’s operations were so advanced that they could avoid detection for years.

After months of following the NDLEA cocaine syndicate, they were caught

Femi Babafemi, a spokesperson for the NDLEA, said that the breakthrough came after the UK authorities stopped six different cocaine shipments between February and August. The shipments were tracked back to goods forwarding companies that worked out of Ikeja cargo terminals, Tincan Island Port, and a private warehouse in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The NDLEA raided several places in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt after getting a tip. They arrested Nnamdi Okechukwu, a clearing agent, Emmanuel Udo, a warehouse manager, and Grace Nwankwo, who is said to have set up payments through offshore accounts in Spain and the UK. Officials said that there are still more suspects on the run, including a financier from London known only as “Chima.”

The items that were taken included 35 kilogrammes of high-quality cocaine, $184,000 in cash, communication devices, and fake export papers that showed shipments of ceramics and dried fish. Investigators also found bank records that connected the money to cryptocurrency wallets.

As the NDLEA cocaine syndicate grows, its ties to other countries grow stronger

The agency said that the syndicate was part of a larger network in West Africa that sends cocaine from South America to Europe through ports in Lagos and Abidjan. Intelligence reports say that the cartel depended on help from people who worked behind the scenes at major cargo terminals and airports.

Marwa said that Nigeria was working more closely with Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to find people and things linked to the operation. He stressed that the NDLEA’s new plan is to go after the “financial backbone” of drug cartels, not just the people who carry drugs.

The NDLEA says it stopped more than 24,000 kilogrammes of drugs and got more than 3,200 convictions between January and September 2025. This is the most enforcement the agency has ever done since it was founded in 1989.