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. Arrests real estate agent, grandma, others; recovers over 2.3tons of assorted illicit drugs in raids across Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Kaduna, Plateau, Bayelsa, and Kano

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted two shipments of synthetic cannabis, popularly called Colorado or Colos in street terms concealed in consolidated cargoes coming from the United Kingdom, while two other consignments of the dangerous substance hidden in music speakers were recovered from two motor parks in Lagos, where at least seven suspects connected to the seized cargoes have been arrested.
At the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted a UK-inbound consignment concealing 27 parcels of colos weighing 32.20kg, while a real estate agent Abideen Jide Salami, who showed up with a secret collection code relayed from his UK-based brother to collect a large luggage containing the illicit substance was arrested on Wednesday 9th September 2026.
A follow-up operation stemming from a second UK consignment led operatives to the designated recipient of another consignment of Colorado weighing 12.25kg.

The suspect Nurudeen Abiodun Kadiri, 44, said the consignment was sent to him by his brother in the UK.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) have intercepted a music speaker rigged with three packs of Colorado at a motor park in Maza Maza, Lagos, heading to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and ultimately Liberia. A tour agent Ifeanyi Obed Augustine, 41, and the consignment’s owner Obasi Ugochuckwu, 46, were both arrested after a swift sting operation at a nearby eatery. In a separate operation at Iddo park, a suspect Ifeanyi Nwokolo Henry was on Friday 11th September nabbed while attempting to dispatch 2.1kg of Colorado to Kano.
In Delta State, two separate arrests at Ughelli and Asaba yielded a haul of ampoules of pentazocine injection, codeine syrup, tramadol, diazepam, flunitrazepam (hypnox) and MDMA (Molly), with several of them concealed in music speakers, while two suspects: Emeka Oji and Chukwuebuka Anedi were arrested.

In Kano, a raid at Sabon Gari led to the arrest of a 20-year-old suspect Saidu Adamu with a staggering 785,000 capsules of Pregabalin weighing 669.425kg, while a stop-and-search operation along the Zaria–Kano–Hadejia road netted 1,700 tablets of diazepam concealed inside loaves of bread seized from Habibu Sabitu, 28, even as 51-year-old Chinedu Uzor was nabbed at Katako market, Jos, Plateau state, with 157,100 capsules of tramadol.

The Agency also sustained pressure on illicit cannabis cultivation with the destruction of 4,832.56 kilograms of skunk on cannabis farms at Usen Forest, Igwe-Oke Forest and Ogboha Forest, in Ovia South West, Owan East and Owan West LGA, Edo state where a suspect Sunday Segun, 39, was arrested on Friday 11th September.
In Ondo state, NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence on Wednesday 9th September raided a residence along Oke-Iya, Ijoka Road, Akure, where they recovered 186kg of skunk concealed in the boot of a Toyota Avalon car marked ABJ 917 FV, from a 58-year-old suspect Paul Ogbuwala who was planning to move the consignment to Jos for onward distribution.

In Kaduna, a female suspect Hannah Michael was arrested at Gonin Gora with 369.6kg of cannabis, while in Bayelsa State, four suspects including a 70-year-old woman Godwoman Gboriye were arrested at Ovom, Yenagoa, with 110 bags of cannabis weighing 876kg. Others are: Motombo Silver, 44; Pere Andrew, 39, and ⁠Keme Andrew, 43.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Mezube Islamiyya Academy, Tudun Wada, Kano; WADA advocacy visit to the management of Cross River State College of Health Technology, Calabar; and hosting of Rikkos traditional rulers who were on a thank you visit to NDLEA Academy for allowing community members use the Agency’s clinic, Jos; while the
Zone 4 Command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Shehu Chindo Yamusa 111, Keffi, Nasarawa state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Kaduna, Plateau, Bayelsa, and Kano Commands for the various successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency. He charged them to continue to shut every pipeline being used by drug cartels, whether at the airports, seaports, land borders, or in the hinterland where cannabis is cultivated.

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Twelve people have been killed and two others sustained various degrees of injuries in a road traffic crash involving two Volkswagen cars along the Kaduna-Kachia Road in Kaduna State.

The Kaduna State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Andrew Paul Longkam, who confirmed the incident, explained that those killed were eight males and four females, saying that the two females who sustained injuries had been taken to the hospital for immediate treatment.

According to him, “The accident occurred at Doka Village in Southern Kaduna and involved fourteen people, eight males and six females.”

Longkam stated that the victims were travelling in two Volkswagen Golf III cars, one blue, with registration number APP 394 FN, and the other red, with registration number ACN 205 HK, when the accident occurred.

He said the probable cause of the crash was a tyre burst, stressing that none of the occupants, as well as the two drivers, was wearing a seat belt or using any protective gear.

The commander explained that the crash was reported at about 10:20 a.m., while the rescue team arrived at the scene at 10:50 a.m. and joined soldiers and policemen in the rescue operation.

He revealed that the injured victims were evacuated to Rapha Hospital for treatment, while the bodies of those who died were deposited at Idon General Hospital, pending contact with their relatives.

Longkam stated that the two vehicles involved in the crash were later recovered and taken to Kajuru Police Station.

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A 33-year-old Iranian blogger, Soda Ebrahimi Shamsabadi, has been sentenced to death after being convicted of “corruption on earth” over alleged anti-government activities, including insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Shamsabadi was accused of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, engaging in media and propaganda activities deemed hostile to national security, and cooperating with governments considered hostile to Iran.

According to Iran International, prosecutors also accused her of photographing a site where a missile had struck and sending the image to a Persian-language media outlet based outside Iran.

Shamsabadi, who was raised in Tehran and later lived in Bandar Abbas, has been held at Bandar Abbas Prison since March. She reportedly spent 20 days in solitary confinement.

During the January protests, she used social media to document alleged killings and abuses linked to the unrest. In one post, she said photographs, videos, documents and eyewitness accounts existed to establish what had occurred.

Her final Instagram post, published on February 23, appeared to acknowledge the possibility that she could die.

Addressing her more than 10,000 followers, Shamsabadi wrote that if she were no longer alive, they should know that she had chosen the path she believed in.

Her sentencing comes amid growing international concern over the use of capital punishment in Iran, particularly against protesters and government critics.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has warned that the increasing use of death sentences in Iran is intended to create fear and suppress dissent.

Iran Human Rights says at least 29 people arrested during the January protests have been executed since March. Meanwhile, the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has documented 950 executions in Iran so far this year.

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned Iran’s use of the death penalty, warning that capital punishment is increasingly being used against political dissidents and protesters.