NDLEA Intercepts 1.63 Million Tramadol Pills Bound for Kano, Arrests 80-Year-Old Suspect in Nationwide Crackdown

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in two articulated trucks travelling from Lagos to Kano, while also arresting an 80-year-old suspected drug dealer and several other suspects in coordinated anti-narcotics operations across the country.

The seizures are part of the agency’s sustained efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the latest breakthrough came barely one week after operatives intercepted another truck carrying 558,900 tramadol pills hidden in a false-bottom compartment after entering Nigeria through the same Togo-Benin Republic route.

The agency disclosed that the first of the two recently intercepted trucks, already heading for Kano, was tracked and stopped on 2 July along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. A search revealed 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a specially fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the trailer.

The 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru, was arrested during the operation.
Two days later, on 4 July, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a second trailer on the same expressway while also heading to Kano. Officers recovered another 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg hidden beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu.

Investigations, according to the agency, revealed that the three trucks intercepted on 21 June, 2 July and 4 July belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate involved in smuggling tramadol from Togo through the Benin Republic into Nigeria.

In another operation, NDLEA officers at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.7 kilogrammes.

The consignments, packaged in cartons boldly marked “Odugwu”, arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on 24 June and 3 July respectively.

The agency said two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were initially arrested in connection with the shipments.

Further investigations led to the arrest of another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who appeared at a logistics company to collect the consignments.

The actual owner of the shipments, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was eventually arrested on 7 July in Surulere, Lagos, during a joint operation with the Nigeria Police Area C Command.

Chioma, who claimed to be a printer by profession, reportedly confessed that a friend identified as Agbons Collins, based in Canada, introduced her to the illicit drug trade.

Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives in Rivers State arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, for allegedly dealing in illicit drugs.
The octogenarian was apprehended in Ahoada on 14 July with 800 grammes of skunk in his possession.

In Edo State, operatives arrested a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and his wife, Nwanneka Christian, 33, following a raid on their alleged drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City.

The operation led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes, as well as compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilogrammes.

Similarly, a Chadian national, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian associate, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after investigators linked them to the seizure of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted in Kogi State on 12 July.

The agency said intelligence gathered after the Kogi interception enabled operatives to trace and arrest the suspects in the Apapa area of Lagos.

Beyond enforcement operations, the NDLEA said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign continued across the country with drug abuse awareness lectures held in schools in Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states.

The sensitisation programmes were conducted for students and staff of Government Day Junior Secondary School, Bakori; Colliery Technical School, Ngwo; Starlight College, Iganmu-Ijora; Community Secondary School, Kono; Odoro High School, Ikole-Ekiti; and Government Junior Secondary School, Gabasawa, among others.

Commending officers and personnel of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the successful operations, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said their efforts had significantly strengthened ongoing drug control initiatives across Nigeria.

He urged officers to remain vigilant and sustain the momentum in the agency’s campaign against drug trafficking and abuse nationwide.