The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted 1,630,000 pills of tramadol concealed in two long trailers heading to Kano from Lagos and arrested an 80-year-old man alongside several other suspects in a series of anti-drug operations across the country.
The agency said the seizures were part of ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo through the Benin Republic into Nigeria. The latest interceptions followed the recovery of 558,900 tramadol pills from another truck linked to the same syndicate on June 21 along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria route.
According to the NDLEA, the first trailer was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway after intelligence operatives tracked the vehicle heading to Kano. Officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg hidden in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru. A second trailer was intercepted on the same route on July 4, leading to the recovery of 777,000 pills of tramadol concealed in a similar compartment and the arrest of another 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu.
The agency also intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.70 kilograms, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja. The shipments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3 in cartons marked “Odugwu.” Three suspects, Ali Rotimi Samson, Orimolade Oluwagbenga and Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, were arrested before the actual owner of the consignments, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was apprehended on July 7 with the support of the Nigeria Police Area C Command in Surulere. She reportedly told investigators that a friend, Agbons Collins, based in Canada, introduced her to the illicit trade.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada on July 14 after he was found in possession of 800 grams of skunk. The agency described the octogenarian as a suspected dealer in illicit substances.
Operatives in Edo State also arrested a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, during a raid on their alleged drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City on July 13. The operation led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a gross weight of 192.67 kilograms.
In another operation, a 38-year-old Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Apapa, Lagos, after investigators linked them to a consignment of 50,000 tramadol 225mg pills intercepted in Kogi State on July 12. The agency said intelligence gathering led operatives to the suspects in Lagos.
Reacting, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi commands for the arrests and seizures. He said their efforts, alongside ongoing War Against Drug Abuse sensitization campaigns in schools across Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states, had strengthened the country’s drug control campaign and urged personnel to remain vigilant.
