The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in two articulated trucks heading to Kano from Lagos, dealing another blow to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate, operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor.
The agency also arrested an 80-year-old man allegedly dealing in illicit drugs in Rivers State, alongside a businesswoman, a Chadian national, a couple and several other suspects in coordinated anti-narcotics operations across the country.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the two truckloads of tramadol 250mg were intercepted during intelligence-led operations carried out on July 2 and July 4 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The first truck, which was already en route to Kano, was intercepted on July 2. NDLEA operatives recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the trailer’s cargo floor and arrested its 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
Two days later, officers tracked and intercepted a second trailer on the same route, recovering another 777,000 pills of tramadol hidden in a similar compartment. The truck’s 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu, was also arrested.
The latest seizures came barely one week after NDLEA recovered 558,900 tramadol pills concealed in the false bottom compartment of another truck that entered Lagos through the Togo-Benin Republic border route.
According to the agency, investigations revealed that all three intercepted trucks and their consignments belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate.
In another operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA intercepted 4.7 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis, concealed in cartons labelled “Odugwu.”
The consignments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3.
The agency initially arrested two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, before apprehending another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who allegedly attempted to collect the shipments.
Further investigations led to the arrest of 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme on July 7, in collaboration with the police in Surulere, Lagos.
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Chioma, who claimed to be involved in the printing business, allegedly confessed that a Canada-based associate, identified as Agbons Collins, introduced her to the illicit trade.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, in Ahoada on July 14, after allegedly recovering 800 grams of skunk from him.
In Edo State, operatives raided a suspected drug warehouse, along Sapele Road in Benin City and arrested a couple, Christian Chukwuka, and Nwanneka Christian.
The raid led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilograms.
Similarly, NDLEA arrested a 38-year-old Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda in Lagos, after tracing a consignment of 50,000 tramadol 225mg pills intercepted earlier in Kogi State on July 12.
The agency said investigations linked the consignment to the duo, who were subsequently arrested in the Apapa area of Lagos.
