24th August 2025
By Peter Omopo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 50-year-old widow and fashion designer, Mrs. Ifeoma Henrietta Ezewuike, for attempting to traffic 1.3 kilograms of cocaine disguised as a pregnancy.
Ezewuike, owner of Golden Star Creation fashion outfit in Okota, Lagos, was apprehended on Friday, August 22, at a bus terminal in Jibowu, Yaba, while trying to deliver the illicit consignment to buyers in Abuja.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said a follow-up raid on her residence in Ago Palace Way, Okota, led to the seizure of 200 grams of a cutting agent used in cocaine processing.
The suspect, a mother of one, reportedly confessed to investigators that she inherited the drug business from her late husband, who died two years ago, despite her 20 years in fashion design.
In other operations, NDLEA operatives intercepted 90 parcels of Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 48.6kg, concealed in cartons of imported kitchen sinks at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday, August 19.
In Adamawa, a raid on the home of a notorious dealer, Idris Garba, forced him to flee, but his associate, Boniface Nnaji, 55, was arrested. Recovered from the scene were a Toyota Thundra truck and a Toyota Yaris used to transport 354,480 pills of tramadol and other opioids.
Further crackdowns in Kano led to the arrest of Buhari Ibrahim, 25, and Mansur Musa, 24, with 5,850 capsules of pregabalin. Another suspect, Buhari Idris, 35, was caught with 140 litres of codeine syrup, while over 452,000 pills of opioids were recovered from the residence of a fugitive, Rabilu Mukhtar.
In Abuja, two dispatch riders were arrested for distributing illicit substances, while in Taraba, Edo, Delta, Ondo, and Ekiti states, NDLEA teams destroyed cannabis farms and warehouses.
The agency reiterated its resolve to sustain nationwide crackdowns against drug trafficking and abuse.
