NDLEA Seizes N4.6bn Abandoned Illicit Drugs At Lagos Airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg and an estimated street value of over N4.6 billion.

The drugs were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) after no one came forward to claim them.

The NDLEA said three of the consignments, containing a combined 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg, arrived on RwandAir flight from Bangladesh.

The fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and arrived aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.

The consignments had been placed under surveillance after being abandoned.

NDLEA’s spokesperson Femi Babafemi said the formal examination and retrieval of the consignments were conducted jointly by NDLEA officers, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other relevant stakeholders.

In a related operation at the Lagos airport, the agency also intercepted 47,200 tablets of Captagon, an amphetamine-based illicit drug popularly referred to as the “Jihadi drug”, with an estimated street value of more than ₦1.5 billion.

The seizure followed the arrest of 49-year-old Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived in Lagos from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight on August 22.

A search of his carton containing locally produced bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap,” allegedly led to the discovery of the Captagon tablets concealed inside the soap blocks.

The NDLEA said Aikins told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment to an unidentified destination in northern Nigeria.

In another Lagos operation, NDLEA operatives arrested 31-year-old US returnee Sowunmi David Oludotun on August 19 at Ikate, Lekki, after he allegedly arrived to take delivery of 3.350kg of Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis reportedly imported from the United Kingdom.