The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives have uncovered a clandestine laboratory where Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, is being produced in a residential building located at Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos.
NDLEA said its operatives recovered large quantities of freshly cooked Colos and various precursor chemicals used in drug production.
This was announced on Sunday in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, disclosing that a 30-year-old lab owner, Stephen Kelechi Imoh, was arrested.
Babafemi said the discovery followed months of intelligence gathering on possible Colos laboratories in Lagos after NDLEA officers intercepted consignments of freshly produced Colos in March and May 2025. The development suggested that the dangerous psychoactive substance, which was previously imported into the country, was now being locally produced.
The effort paid off on Thursday, 30th October 2025, when NDLEA officers raided the residential apartment in Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos, which Kelechi had converted into a laboratory for producing Colos, a strain of cannabis made with the psychoactive plant and various chemicals. Items recovered from the apartment included freshly cooked Colos weighing 16.2 kilograms; ADB-CHMNACA Cannabinol – 1.7kg; Potassium Carbonate – 4.5kg; and Dibromobutane – 91 litres.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, 1st November, raided the enclave of a 28-year-old drug dealer, Afeez Salisu (alias Malu), in Mushin, where 16 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, as well as designer sachets and bottles of Colorado weighing 16.4kg, were recovered.
A music artist, Godspower George Osahenrumwen, whose stage name is Steady Boy, was on Thursday, 30th October, arrested by NDLEA operatives while attempting to take delivery of a large consignment of Loud, a strain of cannabis, concealed inside three cartons of bathtubs imported along with other items such as clothes and gadgets from New York, United States.
The seizure followed the arrival of the shipment at the import shed of Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, from the US aboard a DHL flight on Tuesday, 28th October. The 20-year-old music artist was apprehended at Bougain Villa, Primewater Gardens 2, Freedom Way, Lekki, Lagos, when he appeared as the consignee to take delivery of 140 bags of Loud with a gross weight of 77.20kg on behalf of a syndicate, which includes his manager, Zion Osazee Omigie (alias Zee Money), who is currently at large.
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja-Jos highway on Sunday, 26th October, intercepted a consignment of 84,710 capsules of Tramadol coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, and heading to Bauchi. A follow-up operation in Bauchi led to the arrest of the recipient, Musa Abdulkarim, 27. Two days later, on Tuesday, 28th October, operatives at the tollgate along the Abuja-Kaduna highway arrested Hamza Musa, 47, conveying 32,946 bottles of Akuskura, a New Psychoactive Substance (NPS), from Lagos, while Saidu Nafiu, 30, was nabbed with 131.5kg of skunk at Kamfanin Zangon Aya, Igabi LGA, Kaduna.
Three suspects – Seun Olaniyi, 24; Rauf Asogba, 28; and Ayinla Adeniyi, 50 – were on Saturday, 1st November, arrested in Abeokuta, Ogun State, after a team of NDLEA officers tracked their movement from Benin Republic and intercepted their bus along Abiola Way, Abeokuta, recovering a total of 1,779kg of skunk from them.
Jamilu Mustapha (alias Last Card), 46, was arrested with 596.4kg of skunk at Nasaru Town, Ningi LGA, Bauchi State, on Wednesday, 29th October, while no fewer than 532,600 pills of Tramadol and Exol-5 were recovered from Halilu Amiru, Rabiu Maikudi, and Ibrahim Mati in a truck marked KTG-791 ZZ at Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, Kwara State, on the same day.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Okhokho-Isi community in Uhunmwode LGA on Wednesday, 29th October, intercepted two Toyota Sienna buses marked EPE 545 EV and ABC 142 CD, conveying a total of 1,455kg of skunk following credible intelligence.
Similarly, operatives in Ondo State on Tuesday, 28th October, recovered a total of 2,829kg of skunk linked to a 32-year-old female suspect, Mrs. Ige Olarewaju, from two locations at Ayede, Ogbese, while another suspect, Samuel Adebayo, was nabbed with 737kg of the same psychoactive substance at Adegbola Junction, Akure.
No less than 76.5 litres of skuchies, a mixture of black currant, skunk, and opioids, were seized from a suspect, Ige Oluwale, 50, arrested by NDLEA officers at Ibereko, Badagry, Lagos, on Friday, 31st October. A total of 30,370 pills of Tramadol and 177 grams of methamphetamine were recovered from Musbahu Abdullahi, 28, and Saleiman Ahmed, 25, following their arrest at Wukari, Taraba State, by operatives on Thursday, 30th October, while they were conveying the drugs from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Yola, Adamawa State.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA Lagos, Kaduna, Edo, Kwara, Ogun, Taraba, Ondo, Seme, and Bauchi commands, as well as their counterparts across the country, for their resilience, professionalism, and balanced approach to drug control, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), vowed that the agency will continue to target and dismantle every identified drug syndicate in any part of Nigeria while denying them the benefits of their criminal trade by ensuring the forfeiture of all traceable assets to the Federal Government.
