NDLEA raids The Hook Hotel in Lagos, recovers illicit drugs worth ₦1.042bn

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recovered illicit substances valued at ₦1.042 billion following a raid of The Hook Hotel, in Victoria Island, Lagos, serving as a drug distribution hub.

According to the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA officers, after several hours of intensive search between Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26, 2025, seized 589 bags of “Canadian Loud,” a highly potent cannabis strain, weighing 417.3 kilograms.

The street value of the seized drugs was put at ₦1,042,500,000.

Three suspects—Eze Ayitu, Ofuokwu Samuel, and Emmanuel Ameh—were apprehended during the operation at the five-storey, 80-room hotel complex known as The Hook Hotel (also operating as Caesar Hotel and Caesar Lounge) at 16 Waziri Ibrahim Street, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island.

Two additional suspects, Noble Philip and his partner Kenneth, are still on the run.

Items suspected to be proceeds from drug trafficking were also recovered from the hotel premises, including:

Toyota Prado Land Cruiser Jeep (Lagos AKD 472 OZ)

Toyota Sienna Vehicle (Lagos KJA 79 HJ)

Volkswagen Delivery Van (Lagos AAA 525 JE)

Kia Cerato Car (Lagos BDG 860 GQ)

Grand Caravan Dodge (Lagos APP 847 YF)

74 new television sets, 10 used TVs, and 13 refrigerators, among others.

Meanwhile, NDLEA’s Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted another Saudi-bound shipment containing 46 wraps of cocaine weighing 547 grams, hidden in body creams.

The interception occurred on Wednesday, April 23, at a courier company in Lagos.

On the same day, a separate consignment containing 1.8 kilograms of pentazocine injection and 60 grams of bromazepam tablets destined for Canada was also seized.

In a related operation, NDLEA operatives in Jigawa State, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted large opioid consignments being transported from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe State.

The interception took place around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 23, along the Kano-Ringim road in Gumel town, where two suspects—Abba Ibrahim (28) and Shuaibu Umar (29)—were arrested while transporting the drugs in a Toyota Sienna vehicle. Items seized included 200,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin.

A follow-up operation led to the arrest of 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad at his residence in Mil Tara, Layin Technical area of Kano, where an additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) were discovered, hidden inside a Nissan 18-seater bus (DAL 372 XA) and a room in his house. This brought the total number of recovered opioid pills to 2,001,500.

At the Seme Border area in Badagry, Lagos, NDLEA officers arrested three Ghanaian women at the Gbaji checkpoint on Sunday, April 20, while attempting to smuggle a combined 4.8 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a high-grade cannabis strain, into Nigeria.

The suspects were identified as Haziza Zubairu (42), Samirat Mustapha (43), and Jamila Salifu (26).

In another Kano operation, a 60-year-old grandmother, Safiya Shamsu, was arrested on Friday, April 25, in the Samegu area of Kumbotso LGA with 5.6 kilograms of skunk, another potent cannabis strain.

Similarly, 35-year-old Muntari Labaran was apprehended in the Yelwa area of Dala LGA following the seizure of 100 litres of codeine syrup.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided two farms in the Ugbodu community, Ovia North East LGA, destroying 3,814.9 kilograms of skunk on Thursday, April 24.

During the operation, three suspects—Samuel Samson (26), Daniel Peter (20), and Abel Edah (31)—were taken into custody.