Lagos, March 9, 2025 – The Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Levi Ubodoeze, an automobile spare parts dealer in Lagos, for attempting to export two kilograms of cocaine concealed in vehicle propellers to Angola.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Spokesman, disclosed this in as statement on Sunday.
The NDLEA said the spare parts dealer was arrested barely three weeks after launching a manhunt for him over a recent attempt to export two kilograms of cocaine concealed in vehicle propellers to Angola.
“Following the seizure of the cocaine consignment at a logistics company in Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos on February 21, 2025, swift contact was made with Angolan authorities, who in turn arrested the supposed recipient of the illicit drug in Angola, after which the identity of the sender was uncovered.
“As a result, NDLEA operatives, on Thursday, March 6, tracked Ubodoeze to his house in the Ago Palace Way area of Isolo, Lagos, where he was caught in a KIA Sport Utility Vehicle trying to escape.”
It said a search of the vehicle reportedly led to the recovery of a large quantity of phenacetin, a cutting agent for cocaine, weighing 75.50 kilograms, packaged and branded as semolina. A digital scale used for weighing illicit drugs was also recovered from his house.
Ubodoeze, in his confession, admitted his involvement in the cocaine trade while selling motor spare parts at Ladipo Market, Mushin, Lagos.
According to the NDLEA, he said the supposed recipient of the illicit consignment in Angola alerted him the moment he was arrested, hence his bid to evacuate his house and flee from the area shortly before NDLEA officers swooped on him.
The statement also said NDLEA operatives intercepted a commercial truck in the Ojo area of Lagos State on March 7, leading to the arrest of two suspects, China Michael and Igbo Ekene.
The truck was transporting 248 compressed blocks of Ghanaian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 128 kilograms, which was concealed in the underbelly of the truck.
The NDLEA also said its operatives in that in Kano State, arrested 65-year-old Yahaya Haruna on 6th March with 19.2 kilograms of skunk, while another suspect, Musa Bello, 60, was arrested with 212 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
NDLEA operatives in Abia raided the residence and warehouse of one Blessing Okoronkwo in Aba, Abia State on March 4, recovering 442,594 pills of tramadol and other opioids, as well as 1,274 bottles of codeine syrup.
In Benue State, 50,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 were recovered from two suspects, Nwaeze Onyeabor, 47, and Tombo Thomas, 23, on 5th March when their vehicle was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at Ugbema Junction, Katsina Ala.
In Osun, 50-year-old Asimiyu Muibi was arrested on 4th March with 162 kilograms of skunk at Modakeke, while 95 kilograms of the same substance were recovered from a Toyota Camry, marked KSF 72 GW, during a raid in Ede the same day.
On March 5, a suspect, Etim Esien Stephen, 55, was arrested following a raid on a cannabis farm in Igueben, Edo State, where 9,514.625 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on 3.805846 hectares of cannabis farmland.
