The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in two trailers bound for Kano State and dismantled key links in a transnational drug trafficking network operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor.
The agency also arrested an 80-year-old alleged drug trafficker, a businesswoman, a Chadian national, a couple and several other suspects in coordinated operations across Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi states.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that the latest seizures came barely a week after operatives recovered 558,900 tramadol pills hidden in the false bottom of another truck that entered Lagos through the same route.
According to him, the first of the latest consignments, containing 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg, was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway after operatives tracked the trailer heading to Kano. The drugs were concealed in a specially fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor, while the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru, was arrested.
Two days later, on July 4, NDLEA operatives intercepted another trailer on the same highway, recovering an additional 777,000 tramadol 250mg pills hidden in a similar compartment. Its 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu, was also arrested.
Babafemi said investigations revealed that the three trailers intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate moving illicit drugs through the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor.
In another major breakthrough, NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4.7 kilogrammes.
The shipments, which arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3, were concealed in cartons boldly labelled “Odugwu.”
The agency arrested two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, in connection with the consignments before apprehending another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, when he allegedly arrived to collect the cargo from a logistics company.
Further investigations led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignments, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Mokeme, on July 7 in collaboration with the Area C Command of the Nigeria Police, Surulere, Lagos.
According to NDLEA, Mokeme, who claimed to be a printer, allegedly confessed that a Canada-based associate, Agbons Collins, introduced her to the illicit drug trade.
In Rivers State, operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada on July 14 after recovering 800 grammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, from him.
In Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested during a raid on their suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City on July 13.
The operation resulted in the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a combined weight of 192.67 kilogrammes.
In a related operation, NDLEA arrested a 38-year-old Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, in Lagos after tracing to them a consignment of 50,000 tramadol 225mg pills earlier intercepted in Kogi State on July 12.
The agency said intelligence gathering led operatives to the suspects’ hideout in the Apapa area of Lagos, where they were taken into custody.
Beyond enforcement operations, NDLEA said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign continued nationwide with sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of schools across several states to discourage drug abuse and trafficking.
Commending officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the successful operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), praised their professionalism and urged personnel nationwide to sustain intelligence-driven operations aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks and curbing substance abuse across the country.
