A 40-year-old wanted drug lord, Yussuf Abayomi Azeez, has been arrested by operatives of a special operations unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos while on his way to Saudi Arabia.
Azeez who was on his way to Umrah, a holy pilgrimage, was nabbed after months of intelligence and surveillance on him and his criminal drug activities.
The drug kingpin had been arrested and charged for drug offences in the United Kingdom but jumped bail and escaped to Nigeria. Soon after settling down in Lagos, he set up a massive clandestine laboratory in the Lekki area of the state for the production of Colorado, a deadly synthetic cannabis and other illicit substances.
At about 6:30am on Thursday 6th November 2025, Yussuf walked into the waiting hands of NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport while attempting to board his flight to Saudi Arabia for Umrah. He was swiftly driven to his 17 Vincent Eku street, Ogombo, Lekki, clandestine laboratory which has been under surveillance for a while. At the time of his arrest, Yussuf was found in company of another suspect, 43-year-old Abideen Kekere-Ekun.
Inside the massive building, operatives from the Agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring were able to dismantle all installed laboratory equipment, precursor chemicals and already produced illicit substances including Colorado, all weighing 148.3 kilograms.
At the Sifax bonded terminal in Okota, Lagos, NDLEA operatives in conjunction with men of Customs Service and other security agencies on Friday 7th November discovered 105.5kg Molly, a designer’s drug and 500grams of methamphetamine during a joint examination of a shipment.
In Niger state, NDLEA operatives on Thursday 6th November intercepted Ibrahim Mohammed, 35, in a Volvo truck marked GRZ 872 XA along Kainji-Wawa road while conveying 87,000 pills of tramadol and 72kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis.
Not less than 34,520 capsules of tramadol were found concealed in different compartments of a Toyota Corolla car marked GAN 102 AR intercepted along Zaki-Biam – Wukari road on Monday 3rd November while the driver Aliyu Samaila, 25, was arrested. The opioids were loaded from Onitsha, Anambra State, and heading to Cameroon. In another operation in Taraba, NDLEA officers on Thursday 6th November arrested a suspect Felix Tanko Chinedu, 28, with 15,020 capsules of tramadol at Kasuwabera ATC in Ardo Kola LGA.
In Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene/Lokoja highway on Wednesday 5th November intercepted a consignment of 7.600kg Loud, a strong strain of cannabis. A follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of the owner, Chukwunonso Anieze, 40, while no fewer than 175,000 pills of opioids were recovered from another consignment at the location same day.
Three suspects: Olayide Oyidiran, 39; Abdulsalam Abdulsalam, 28; and Opeyemi Tijjani, 39, were on Wednesday 5th November nabbed at Abuja/Kaduna tollgate with 769kg skunk being conveyed in a truck marked TRE 897 BE, coming from Lagos en route Owo, Ondo state and heading to Kano.
