Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered a secret laboratory used for producing Colorado, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis, inside a residential building at Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos State.
This was disclosed in a statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who said the lab owner, Stephen Kelechi Imoh, 30, was arrested during a raid following months of surveillance and intelligence gathering on the local production of the psychoactive substance.
The statement read, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) 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 with large quantities of freshly cooked Colos and various precursor chemicals for drug production recovered and the 30-year-old lab owner, Stephen Kelechi Imoh arrested.”
According to Babafemi, the breakthrough came after operatives intercepted multiple consignments of Colorado in March and May 2025, a discovery that suggested the substance, previously imported into Nigeria, was now being produced locally.
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.
“Recovered items included 16.2kg of freshly cooked Colos, 1.7kg of ADB-CHMNACA Cannabinol, 4.5kg of Potassium Carbonate, and 91 litres of Dibromobutane, all used in the manufacture of synthetic cannabis.
“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.
