The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has successfully dismantled two major drug cartels behind six different cocaine consignments hidden in walls of stainless cups, body cream, and hair gel containers in a series of intelligence-led operations that spanned more than three weeks throughout Lagos. Five suspects were apprehended, including the syndicate’s arrowhead, Alhaji Hammed Taofeek Ode, who poses as a businessman and real estate developer.
The end of the criminal syndicate’s operations started on September 16, 2025, when NDLEA agents at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted 174 packages of cocaine weighing 13.40 kilograms hidden in walls of cocoa butter body cream containers, according to a statement from the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
“A shipping agent was apprehended right away. After weeks of intelligence gathering, it was determined that the drug lord had reported a fight at the Zone 2 police headquarters in Lagos, and the agency requested the police’s cooperation to apprehend the suspect. Subsequent investigations identified Alhaji Hammed Taofeek Ode as the shipment’s mastermind.
Alhaji Hammed Ode acknowledged ownership of the shipment, which he said he purchased for more than N150 million, during his initial interrogation. After returning from the UK in 2024, he claimed to be an estate developer and businessman. Before relocating to the UK, he spent more than 27 years living in several European nations, such as Austria, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia.
Similarly, members of the NDLEA’s MMIA Strategic Command stopped five more desperate attempts by a different criminal group to smuggle cocaine shipments to the UK. After 2.10 kg of cocaine was found hidden in the walls of hair cream containers at the Lagos airport’s export shed, the gang began to disintegrate on September 26.
After a cargo agent apprehended the consignor, furniture manufacturer Smith David Korede, on Tuesday, September 30, at his base at 3 Arowojobe Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, another shipment of 1.40 kg of cocaine intended for export to the United Kingdom was found on him. The same day, a second shipment of one kilogram of cocaine headed for the UK was also stopped at the airport’s export shed using a similar concealment technique. The number of seized cocaine consignments connected to the suspect now stands at three after the cargo agent detained in connection with the 1 kilogram of cocaine also named Smith David Korede as the consignor.
On Thursday, October 2, NDLEA agents also stopped two other cocaine-laden shipments headed for the UK at the MMIA’s export yard. Ogunbiyi Oluseye Taiwo and Popoola Francis Olumuyiwa, two suspects connected to the seizures, were taken into custody right away. In one shipment, there are crayfish and twelve steel cups that are designed to hide one kilogram of cocaine. In the other shipment, there are 36 containers of hair cream that are used to hide one kilogram of cocaine.
