By Opeyemi Adelakun
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted multiple consignments of synthetic cannabis, popularly known as Colorado or Colos, allegedly sent from the United Kingdom, while recovering other illicit drugs concealed in unusual items.
The NDLEA said its operatives also recovered more than 2.3 tonnes of assorted illicit substances and arrested several suspects during coordinated operations across Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Kaduna, Plateau, Bayelsa and Kano states.
The agency disclosed this in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, at the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Sunday.
According to the agency, two consignments of Colorado destined for the United Kingdom were intercepted at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
One of the consignments contained 27 parcels weighing 32.20kg.
The NDLEA said a real estate agent, Abideen Jide Salami, was arrested on September 9 after allegedly arriving to take delivery of luggage containing the substance.
The agency said Salami was reportedly given a secret collection code by his brother based in the United Kingdom.
A follow-up operation involving another UK-linked consignment led to the arrest of 44-year-old Nurudeen Abiodun Kadiri, who was allegedly expecting another 12.25kg shipment of Colorado.
The NDLEA said Kadiri told investigators that his brother in the UK had sent the consignment.
Beyond the airport seizures, the agency said its operatives recovered illicit drugs hidden in music speakers and loaves of bread during operations across the country.
The latest seizures come amid intensified efforts by the NDLEA to disrupt international and domestic drug trafficking networks and prevent traffickers from using legitimate cargo channels to move prohibited substances.
The agency has also recorded several major drug seizures in recent months.
In August, the NDLEA reported the interception of 47,200 pills of captagon, popularly called the “Jihadi drug”, at the Lagos airport, alongside millions of tablets of Tramaking and Tapentadol.
The combined value of those seizures was put at more than N6.2 billion.
The agency had also reported in October 2025 that traffickers concealed illicit drugs in frozen snails, electrical bulbs and female clothing in consignments handled through the Lagos airport.
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