NDLEA Intercepts 1.63m Tramadol Pills Bound For Kano

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted two truckloads containing 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in specially fabricated compartments and destined for Kano.

The agency said the seizure dealt another major blow to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating on the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.

NDLEA also arrested an 80-year-old suspected drug dealer in Rivers State; a businesswoman linked to imported Canadian Loud cannabis; a couple operating an alleged drug warehouse in Edo State and a Chadian woman with her Nigerian accomplice in separate operations across the country.

In a statement yesterday by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA said the latest intelligence-driven operation came barely a week after operatives recovered 558,900 tramadol pills hidden in the false bottom compartment of a truck which entered Nigeria through the Togo-Benin Republic route.

Babafemi said the first of the two trailers was intercepted on July 2 on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while heading to Kano.

The officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.

He added that a second trailer was tracked and intercepted on July 4 on the same route, leading to the recovery of another 777,000 pills of tramadol hidden in a similar fabricated compartment. Its 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu, was also arrested.

Investigations, according to the NDLEA, revealed that the three trucks intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belong to the same transnational drug trafficking network smuggling tramadol into Nigeria through Togo and Benin Republic.

In another operation, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.70 kilogrammes.

The shipments, which arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3 respectively, were concealed in cartons labelled “Odugwu.”

The agency arrested two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, before apprehending Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who appeared at a logistics company to collect the consignments.

Further investigations led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the drugs, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, in Surulere, Lagos, on July 7 with the support of the Nigeria Police Force’s Area C Command.

Babafemi said Mokeme, who claimed to operate a printing business, told investigators that a Canada-based associate, Agbons Collins, introduced her to the illicit trade.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada after he was allegedly found in possession of 800 grams of skunk.

Similarly, in Edo State, operatives raided an alleged drug warehouse on Sapele Road, Benin City, arresting a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33.

Recovered from the warehouse were 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a total weight of 192.67 kilograms.