Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a wanted drug lord, Yussuf Azeez, and dismantled a major synthetic drug production laboratory in the Lekki area of Lagos State. The suspect, a 40-year-old previously arrested and charged for drug offences in the United Kingdom, was apprehended on Thursday, November 6, 2025, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.

According to a statement by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Azeez jumped bail in the UK and fled to Nigeria. “Soon after settling in Lagos, he set up a massive clandestine laboratory in the Lekki area for the production of Colorado and other illicit substances,” Babafemi said. At the time of his arrest, Azeez was reportedly in the company of Abideen Kekere-Ekun, 43. A subsequent raid on the laboratory located at 17 Vincent Eku Street, Ogombo, Lekki, led to the seizure of 148.3 kilogrammes of Colorado, precursor chemicals, and production equipment.

In a related operation, NDLEA operatives working with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the Sifax Bonded Terminal, Okota, Lagos, intercepted 105.5 kilogrammes of Molly, a designer drug, and 500 grams of methamphetamine during a cargo examination on Friday, November 7.

The agency also reported a series of other coordinated arrests and seizures across multiple states. In Niger State, Ibrahim Mohammed, 35, was arrested along the Kainji–Wawa Road with 87,000 tramadol pills and 72 kilogrammes of cannabis in a Volvo truck. In Taraba State, Felix Chinedu, 28, was apprehended with 15,020 tramadol capsules at Kasuwabera ATC, Ardo Kola LGA.

In Kogi State, NDLEA seized 7.6 kilogrammes of “Loud” cannabis along the Okene–Lokoja Highway; a follow-up operation in Abuja led to the arrest of Chukwunonso Anieze, 40. At the Abuja–Kaduna Tollgate, Olayide Oyidiran, 39, Abdulsalam Abdulsalam, 28, and Opeyemi Tijjani, 39, were caught with 769 kilogrammes of skunk hidden in a truck marked TRE 897 BE, en route from Lagos to Kano.

In Edo State, 73-year-old James Ugbedo was arrested at a cannabis plantation in Igbeshi Forest, Etsako East LGA, where officers destroyed 1,459.75 kilogrammes of cannabis and evacuated another 5.6 kilogrammes. In Bayelsa State, Comfort Odudu, 70, was arrested at Onopa, Yenagoa, with 5 kilogrammes of cannabis.

Babafemi reaffirmed NDLEA’s commitment to dismantling the operations of drug cartels across the country. He stated that the agency would continue its efforts “regardless of the sophistication of their networks or the profiles of their members.”