Drug enforcement operatives have uncovered cocaine packed into the false bottoms of food flasks at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, in what authorities described as a bold attempt to smuggle narcotics to the United Kingdom aboard a commercial flight.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said 12 parcels of cocaine with a combined weight of 2.80 kilograms were discovered on April 9 at the airport’s export shed, concealed inside the flasks which were headed to the UK on a Virgin Atlantic Airlines flight.

Agency spokesperson Femi Babafemi confirmed the interception Sunday, saying two cargo agents, Ama Obinna Ufeim, 33, and Ogabi Monday Akorede, 39, were arrested at the scene.

A follow-up operation identified and apprehended the sender, a 52-year-old freight and forwarding agent named Agoro Tajudeen Moninuola.

Cannabis arrives from the United States

A separate interception at the Lagos airport’s import shed on April 8 yielded 2.90 kilograms of a potent cannabis strain known as Loud, which had arrived from the United States on a Delta Air Lines flight, concealed inside snack food packs.

Two cargo clearing agents, Animashaun Moshood Adetunji and Mercy Gabriel Oluwasegun, were arrested initially. A follow-up operation on April 13 led to the arrest of the consignee, 29-year-old fashion designer Saheed Adeshina Adegoke, at his address on Oba Ogunji Road in Ogba, Lagos.

Nationwide sweeps

The airport seizures were part of a broader enforcement push across several states. In Kaduna State, operatives intercepted a cement-laden trailer on the Kaduna-Zaria highway that was concealing 847 kilograms of skunk, a cannabis variant. The driver, Umar Haruna, 33, was arrested.

In Cross River State, operatives supported by soldiers raided a forest in Uwet community, Akamkpa Local Government Area on April 16, arresting a 53-year-old woman, Alice Udoh, and destroying 15,000 kilograms of cannabis cultivated across six hectares of farmland. A further 119 kilograms were recovered.

In Edo State, a cannabis farm at Saboro Camp in Ovia North East Local Government Area was raided and 2,281.43 kilograms destroyed. Three suspects, Nweke Smart, 27, Christopher Egbe, 62, and Monday Ayan, 45, were arrested. In Delta State, two suspects were held with 87.838 kilograms of skunk and seeds in the Okwo area.

Back in Lagos, operatives arrested two suspects along the Mile 2 axis of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway carrying 11,900 capsules of tramadol and 400 ampoules of phenobarbital injection destined for Ghana. A raid on a two-storey building at Petti, Lagos Island, yielded 95.8 kilograms of cannabis.

NDLEA chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa commended operatives for maintaining pressure across both airport and inland operations and urged officers nationwide to sustain the momentum.