NDLEA Intercepts 1.63 Million Tramadol Pills Bound for Kano, Arrests 80-Year-Old Drug Suspect
Oru Leonard
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 operations across Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi states.
The seizures are part of ongoing efforts by the anti-narcotics agency to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo through the Benin Republic into Nigeria.
According to NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, intelligence-led operations led to the interception of two trucks carrying a total of 1,630,000 pills of tramadol (250mg), hidden in specially fabricated compartments beneath the cargo floors of the trailers.
The first truck, carrying 853,000 pills, was intercepted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on July 2, with its 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru, arrested. Two days later, operatives recovered another 777,000 pills from a second truck on the same route and arrested its driver, 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu.
The agency disclosed that investigations revealed the two consignments, alongside an earlier seizure of 558,900 tramadol pills on June 21, were linked to the same transnational drug trafficking network operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor.
In another operation, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.7 kilograms. The illicit drugs arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights in cartons boldly labelled “Odugwu.”
Three suspects, including cargo agents Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were initially arrested before operatives tracked and apprehended the alleged owner of the shipments, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Area C Command, Surulere. She reportedly admitted that a Canada-based associate introduced her to the illicit trade.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested an 80-year-old suspect, Chika Ugwoji, in Ahoada after recovering 800 grams of skunk from him during an operation on July 14.
In Edo State, a married couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested following a raid on their suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City. The operation led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms, alongside compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilograms.
Similarly, a Chadian national, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after investigators linked them to the seizure of 50,000 pills of tramadol intercepted in Kogi State on July 12.
Beyond enforcement operations, the agency said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign continued nationwide, with sensitisation programmes held in schools across Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states.
Commending officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the successful operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), said the arrests and seizures represent another significant breakthrough in the agency’s sustained campaign against drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria.
Marwa urged officers to remain vigilant and sustain the momentum in the fight against illicit drugs across the country.
