The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a clandestine laboratory used for producing Colorado — a potent synthetic strain of cannabis — inside a residential building at Ajao Estate, in the Isolo area of Lagos State.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, confirming the arrest of 30-year-old Stephen Kelechi Imoh, the suspected owner of the facility.
According to Babafemi, the breakthrough followed months of intelligence gathering and surveillance on the local production of the psychoactive substance.
“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 in the state, a development that suggested that the dangerous psychoactive substance, which was hitherto imported into the country, was now locally produced,” the statement read.
Babafemi explained that the operation paid off on Thursday, October 30, 2025, when NDLEA operatives stormed the residential building, which Imoh had allegedly converted into a laboratory for manufacturing Colorado.
“The effort paid off on Thursday 30th October 2025 when NDLEA officers raided the residential apartment in Ajao estate, Isolo Lagos which Kelechi converted to a laboratory for cooking Colos, a strain of cannabis produced with the psychoactive plant and various chemicals.
“Recovered from the apartment include: freshly cooked Colos weighing 16.2 kilograms; ADB-CHMNACA Cannabinol – 1.7kg; Potassium Carbonate – 4.5kg and Dibromobutane – 91 litres.”
The agency stated that these substances are key ingredients in the manufacture of synthetic cannabis and pose severe health and environmental risks.
In a related operation, NDLEA officers also raided the hideout of a 28-year-old drug dealer, identified as Afeez Salisu, also known as Malu, in the Mushin area of Lagos.
During the operation, the agency recovered 16 compressed blocks of Ghana loud, alongside several designer sachets and bottles of Colorado weighing 16.4 kilograms.
The NDLEA said investigations are ongoing to identify and dismantle other possible networks linked to the illegal production and distribution of synthetic cannabis in the state.
