The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Sunday, announced that it busted several drug lords and traffickers between August 2 and 8.

A statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s director of media and advocacy, said a 30-year-old Italy-based businessman, Joseph Cyril, was arrested by operatives of the agency at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) in Enugu.

Mr Babafemi said the suspect ingested 98 wraps of cocaine ahead of his planned trip to Italy via Addis Ababa and France.

The spokesman said the suspect, who was nabbed at the departure hall of the airport on August 2 during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET930, excreted the 98 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.510 kilograms.

“Investigations revealed that Cyril had arrived Nigeria from Italy on 13th July 2026 and ingested the drug in a hotel in Awka, Anambra State before proceeding to Enugu to board his flight to Europe on Sunday 2nd August,” Mr Babafemi said.

“In his statement, he claimed he has been doing business in Italy for years before agreeing to traffic the drug consignment for a fee of €3,500 in order to raise money to relocate to Germany where his family is based,” he added.

The agency said its operatives busted a courier firm in Lagos where drug trafficking syndicates had concealed 1.2 kilograms of cocaine in 25 pieces of phone chargers for a planned trip to Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, the NDLEA thwarted the planned attempts by a syndicate operating at a logistics company to export 500 grams of the same illicit drug, hidden in the false bottom of a backpack, to Italy.

“A consignment of 2.3kg Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, coming from the United States was intercepted in another shipping company in Lagos on Tuesday, August 4,” Mr Babafemi said.

The enforcement agency said its officers on patrol along Akure-Ilesha expressway on August 4 intercepted a truck heading north with 1,633 kilograms of skunk concealed in bags of rice shafts.

The agency said its personnel arrested two suspects, identified as Buba Jamilu (40) and Sanusi Ibrahim (30), adding that a total of 147 kg of skunk was recovered from Ita Ogbolu forest during a raid operation on August 3.

The agency’s spokesman said its personnel raided a drug warehouse in Elebure village, Orire Local Government Area in Oyo State, where 731.03 kilograms of illicit drugs were recovered; a suspect, identified as 57-year-old Felicia Thompson, was arrested and her partner, Thompson Vincent Nwaka, is at large.

“In a similar operation in Edo State on Wednesday 5th August, operatives supported by soldiers recovered 65 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 604.5kg at Ewe Luleha in Owan West LGA,” he said.

The agency also said it arrested 31-year-old Chibuike Charles during a raid, where 7kg of skunk was recovered from him on August 6, while a wanted drug dealer, Adome Claude Sikuru, was nabbed on August 8 at the fibre market drug jungle, Badagry, Lagos, after a three-month manhunt.

“A total of 73 cartons containing 442 packets of cookies and gummies infused with cannabis weighing 309.4kg were discovered during a joint examination of a 40ft container by NDLEA officers, Customs and other security agencies on Tuesday, 4th August at the Tincan port complex, Lagos. A suspect, Larry Nnaji, has already been arrested in connection with the seizure,” Mr Babafemi said.

The spokesman said the agency also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation across schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities in the past week.

The chairman of the NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, urged operatives across the country to continue enforcing a balanced approach to the agency’s drug control efforts.