NDLEA razes warehouses holding 317 tonnes of cannabis in Edo forest, arrests four
Nigeria's NDLEA destroyed warehouses and tents holding 317,417 kg of cannabis in the Opuje forests of Edo State in a two-day operation starting 18 January 2023. Four suspects were arrested, including a man accused of posing as a police inspector to move the drugs out of the forest.
Operatives of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) stormed a
cluster of cannabis syndicates in the Opuje forests of Edo State and destroyed
warehouses and tents storing 317,417 kg (317.4 tonnes) of cannabis in a
two-day operation.[1][2]
Reaching the forest on Wednesday 18 January took hundreds of operatives hours
of trekking, and armed youths ambushed them with bonfires as they left the
community the next day; the agency reported no casualties, only heavy losses
for the cartels.[2][3]
Four arrests
Four suspects were arrested in connection with the drugs: Omoruan Theophilus,
37, described as a police impersonator who posed as an inspector to ferry
drugs from the forest to the cities, alongside Aigberuan Jacob, 42, Ekeinde
Anthony Zaza, 53, and Naomi Patience Ohiewere, 42.[1][2][3]
The agency describes the Opuje community in Owan West Local Government Area as
notorious for cannabis cultivation, where cartels cut down the forest
reserves’ economic trees, cultivate cannabis on a large scale and guard the
warehouses with armed youths.[1][2]
Photos and video
NDLEA handout photo published with reports of the Opuje forest warehouse destruction.Photo details
The same NDLEA statement reports a separate Lagos fake-currency bust aided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, a different non-cannabis event left out here.
No figure for the cultivated area cleared was published, only the agency's description of cultivation running into hundreds of hectares.
Whether the four arrested suspects were charged or convicted was not reported in the available accounts.
Journal NG published further NDLEA handout photos of the warehouse before destruction and the four suspects whose direct image addresses could not be recovered.
NDLEA operatives stopped a car on the Auchi-Ibillo Road in Akoko Edo, Edo State, and seized 19 bags of cannabis weighing 201 kg in a roundup of cannabis seizures reported on 8 November 2026. The same roundup reported a Benin City drug-joint raid, three arrests at a Taraba checkpoint with 226.255 kg of compressed cannabis, and further raids in Ondo and Lagos.
NDLEA operatives recovered 1,818 kg of cannabis packed in 148 bags in a raid on Odofin Road, Uso, in Ondo State, destroyed a one-hectare cannabis farm in Board Forest and recovered a further 242 kg. Officers arrested 36-year-old Itoro Linus Akpan in operations reported on 8 November 2026.
NDLEA officers found 16.15 kg of Loud cannabis hidden in two wooden sofas from Houston at Lagos airport on 4 November 2026. A freight agent who came to clear the cargo and a caterer who came to collect it were arrested.
NDLEA officers at Lagos airport found 1.20 kilogrammes of cannabis in two of nine parcels hidden in cartons of snacks from the United Kingdom, and arrested a 51-year-old freight agent who came to clear them. The other seven parcels held chemicals for making synthetic cannabis, and a sting in late October 2026 led to a second arrest.