The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Sunday, said that it has destroyed 75,544 kilograms of skunk in operations carried out across forests in Edo, Delta, Ondo and Taraba states.
NDLEA also arrested a 50-year-old widow and fashion designer, Mrs. Ifeoma Henrietta Ezewuike, who attempted to traffic 1.3kg of cocaine disguised as a pregnancy.
NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said that a total of 14,233.37 kilograms of skunk were destroyed in four plantations measuring 5.69375 hectares at Ebule Forest, Owan West Local Government Area (LGA), Edo, on August 20.
“Similarly, in Delta, NDLEA operatives supported by the military destroyed a total of 25,500kg skunk on four plantations measuring 10.2 hectares in Emu-Obiogu community, Ndokwa West LGA on August 21.
“Also in Ondo State, 25,025kg of the same psychoactive substance was destroyed on three farms with a combined measurement of 10.01 hectares at Asolo camp, Uso area of the state,” he said.
According to him, NDLEA operatives, in conjunction with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), destroyed 7,500kg of skunk on three hectares of farmland at Dadin-Kowa village, Bali LGA, Taraba, on August 20.
Babafemi said that 901kg of the same substance was evacuated from a warehouse at Uzebba in Owan West LGA, Edo.
He added that a 54-year-old female suspect was arrested on August 19 in connection with the substance.
“Meanwhile, two dispatch riders were on Aug. 21, arrested by NDLEA operatives during a stop and search operation in the Jabi area of Abuja for distributing illicit substances in the FCT. While a male suspect, 29, was caught with 300 milligrams of pentazocine injection, another 35 years old suspect was nabbed with 8.64grams of skunk packaged for delivery,” he added.
He said that various commands and formations of the agency across the country had continued their War Against Drug Abuse, as well as sensitisation efforts in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities.
Meanwhile, the agency foiled a widow’s cocaine smuggling plot with fake pregnancy.
Mrs. Ifeoma Henrietta Ezewuike was apprehended at a bus terminal in Jibowu, Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, August 22, 2025, en route to deliver the drugs to clients in Abuja.
NDLEA operatives later raided her residence in the Ago Palace area of Lagos, where they recovered 200 grams of a cutting agent used in cocaine processing. Ezewuike, owner of Golden Star Creation fashion house, claimed she inherited the illicit trade from her late husband, though she had operated as a designer for two decades.
The Agency also uncovered 90 parcels of loud (a potent strain of cannabis) weighing 48.6kg hidden in three cartons of kitchen sinks. The consignment, imported from the U.S., was intercepted at a Lagos courier company on August 19 by NDLEA’s Directorate of Operation and General Investigation (DOGI).