The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a secret laboratory where Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, was being produced inside a residential building located at Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos. Large quantities of freshly cooked Colos and several precursor chemicals used for drug production were also seized.
The Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, revealing that the 30-year-old owner of the lab, Stephen Kelechi Imoh, had been arrested.
Babafemi explained that 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. Those seizures had indicated that the dangerous psychoactive substance, previously imported into the country, was now being locally produced.
According to the statement, the operation succeeded last Thursday when NDLEA officers raided the residential apartment in Ajao Estate, which Kelechi had converted into a laboratory for producing Colos — a strain of cannabis made from the psychoactive plant and various chemicals.
Items recovered from the lab included 16.2 kilograms of freshly cooked Colos, 1.7 kilograms of ADB-CHMNACA Cannabinol, 4.5 kilograms of Potassium Carbonate, and 91 litres of Dibromobutane, according to Babafemi.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Saturday raided the hideout of a 28-year-old drug dealer, Afeez Salisu (alias Malu), in Mushin. There, they recovered 16 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud, designer sachets, and bottles of Colorado, weighing a total of 16.4 kilograms.
The statement continued: “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. This followed the seizure of the shipment which arrived the import shed of the 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 nabbed at Bougain Villa, Primewater Gardens 2, Freedom Way, Lekki, Lagos, when he showed up as the consignee to take delivery of the 140 bags of Loud with a gross weight of 77.20 kilograms on behalf of a syndicate, which includes his manager, Zion Osazee Omigie (a.k.a Zee Money), who is currently at large.”
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives patrolling 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, 27-year-old Musa Abdulkarim. Two days later, on Tuesday 28th October, officers at the Abuja–Kaduna tollgate arrested 47-year-old Hamza Musa, who was transporting 32,946 bottles of Akuskura, a new psychoactive substance, from Lagos. Similarly, 30-year-old Saidu Nafiu was caught with 131.5 kilograms 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 at Abeokuta, Ogun State, after NDLEA officers tracked their movement from the Benin Republic and intercepted their bus along Abiola Way, Abeokuta, recovering a total of 1,779 kilograms of skunk from them.
“Also, 46-year-old Jamilu Mustapha (a.k.a. Last Card) was arrested with 596.4 kilograms of skunk at Nasaru town, Ningi LGA, Bauchi State, on Wednesday, 29th October. No fewer than 532,600 pills of tramadol and exol-5 were recovered from three suspects—Halilu Amiru, Rabiu Maikudi, and Ibrahim Mati—in a truck marked KTG-791 ZZ at Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, Kwara State, the same day.”
