NDLEA seizes 1.63 million tramadol pills, arrests members of transnational drug syndicate on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted 1.63 million tramadol 250mg pills concealed in fabricated compartments of two long trailers on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The agency linked the consignments to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the operations in a statement on Sunday. He revealed that the seizures bring the total tramadol pills intercepted from the same syndicate across three separate operations to more than 2.18 million pills within a month.

How the seizures happened

The NDLEA said the first of the two trailers was tracked and located on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The trailer was already heading to Kano when officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the trailer and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.

Two days later, on July 4, operatives acting on processed intelligence tracked and intercepted a second trailer also heading to Kano on the same expressway. A total of 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the truck were evacuated and the 22-year-old driver Muhammed Nuhu arrested.

The agency said investigations revealed that all three trucks and consignments intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belong to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate.

Airport seizures and arrests

The agency also said two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis with a combined weight of 4.70 kilograms, were intercepted at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The cargoes arrived from Canada in cartons with 'Odugwu' boldly written on them, coming aboard British Airways flight and Ethiopian Airlines flight on June 24 and July 3 respectively.

Two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were initially arrested in connection with the airport seizures, followed by Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislaus, who showed up at a logistics company to take delivery of the consignments. The actual owner, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was subsequently arrested on July 7 in collaboration with the Area C Command of the Nigeria Police in Surulere, Lagos.

More arrests across states

A Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice Abdulkareem Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after a consignment of tramadol was linked to them. They were nabbed following the seizure of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted in Kogi state on Sunday July 12. The consignment was eventually linked to the two suspects who were traced to Lagos and arrested in Apapa area of the state.

In Rivers State, operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, found in possession of 800 grams of skunk at Ahoada on July 14. In Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested on July 13 following a raid on their drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City. Two bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilograms were seized during this operation.

What this means

These latest operations add to a series of recent enforcement actions by the NDLEA against organised narcotics networks. Earlier this month, the NDLEA declared alleged methamphetamine kingpin Nnamuka Kelvin Uchenna and three suspected associates wanted following the discovery of a clandestine drug laboratory in Imo State, while also freezing nearly N9.84 billion in bank accounts linked to the syndicate. The agency also secured interim forfeiture orders covering a filling station, multi-storey buildings and four sport utility vehicles believed to be proceeds of the group's illicit activities.