NDLEA Intercepts 1.63m Tramadol Pills, Arrests 80-year-old Grandpa

–         Nabs businesswoman, Chadian, couple, others in Edo, Kogi, Rivers operations

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted two trailers conveying a total of 1.63 million pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in fabricated compartments and destined for Kano State, as the agency intensified its crackdown on a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor.

The latest seizures came barely a week after NDLEA operatives recovered 558,900 pills of tramadol 250mg from the false bottom of another truck that entered Lagos through the same route.

The first of the two latest consignments, comprising 853,000 pills, was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway after the trailer was tracked while heading to Kano.

The drugs were concealed beneath the cargo floor in a specially fabricated compartment, while the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru, was arrested.

Two days later, on July 4, NDLEA operatives tracked and intercepted a second trailer on the same expressway, also heading to Kano. A further 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg were recovered from a concealed compartment beneath the truck’s cargo floor, while its 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu, was arrested.

Investigations, according to a statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, have established that the three trucks and consignments intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating across the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria route.

In another major operation, NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.7 kilogrammes.

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

Babafemi said two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, linked to the shipments were initially arrested.

Another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, was subsequently arrested when he allegedly showed up to collect the consignments from a logistics company.

The alleged owner of the consignments, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Mokeme, was arrested on July 7 in collaboration with the Area C Command of the Nigeria Police, Surulere, Lagos.

Mokeme, who claimed to be into the printing business, allegedly told investigators that a friend, Agbons Collins, resident in Canada, introduced her to the illicit trade.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, for alleged drug trafficking. The octogenarian was arrested at Ahoada on July 14 with 800 grammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis.

In Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested on July 13 following a raid on their alleged illicit drug warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City.

The operation led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes, as well as compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a gross weight of 192.67kg.

Meanwhile, a 38-year-old Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, and her Nigerian accomplice, 44-year-old Abdulkarim Jidda, were arrested in Lagos after the seizure of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg in Kogi State on July 12.

The consignment was allegedly traced to the two suspects, who were subsequently tracked to the Apapa area of Lagos and arrested.

Beyond the seizures and arrests, the NDLEA said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign continued across the country, with sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of schools across some states in the country.

Commending officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd.), said their efforts, alongside those of officers across the country, had contributed significantly to the agency’s ongoing efforts to curb illicit drug trafficking and abuse.

Marwa charged the personnel to remain vigilant, stressing the need for sustained intelligence-led operations to dismantle drug trafficking networks across the country.