NDLEA arrests wanted drug kingpin, dismantles clandestine lab in Lagos
Operatives of a special operations unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug lord, 40-year-old Yussuf Abayomi Azeez, at Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, while he was attempting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia for Umrah. The arrest follows months of intelligence gathering and surveillance on his criminal activities.
The NDLEA, in a statement on Sunday, disclosed that Azeez had previously been arrested and charged for drug offences in the United Kingdom but jumped bail and returned to Nigeria. After settling in Lagos, he established a clandestine laboratory in Lekki for the production of Colorado, a potent synthetic cannabis, and other illicit substances.
At approximately 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, 6th November 2025, NDLEA operatives apprehended Azeez at the airport and immediately proceeded to his laboratory at 17 Vincent Eku Street, Ogombo, Lekki, where he was found with 43-year-old Abideen Kekere-Ekun.
Inside the facility, officers from the Agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring dismantled all laboratory equipment, precursor chemicals, and seized 148.3 kilograms of illicit substances, including Colorado.
In a separate operation at the Sifax bonded terminal in Okota, Lagos, NDLEA operatives, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, discovered 105.5 kilograms of Molly, a designer drug, and 500 grams of methamphetamine during a joint shipment examination on Friday, 7th November.
Elsewhere, a 73-year-old man, James Ugbedo, was arrested in a cannabis plantation at Igbeshi Forest, Imiakebo, Etsako East LGA, Edo State, where 1,459.75 kilograms of skunk were destroyed and 5.6 kilograms evacuated. Additionally, 70-year-old Mrs. Comfort Odudu was arrested at Onopa, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, with 5 kilograms of skunk on Tuesday, 4th November.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the officers and men of SOP, DFCM, and NDLEA commands across the country for the successful operations. He urged continued vigilance in the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
Marwa stated, “The dismantling of yet another clandestine laboratory for the production of Colorado and other dangerous synthetic substances, and the arrest of the kingpin behind it in Lekki, coming barely a week after similar actions in Ajao Estate, Lagos, shows these are only the first in a series of strikes against merchants of death. Let it be known to those still hiding in the dark that the NDLEA, supported by local and international law enforcement partners, will continue to hunt them and bring them to justice.”
