NDLEA Busts Cross-Border Drug Ring, Seizes 1.6m Tramadol Pills Bound for Kano
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered and disrupted a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor, intercepting more than 1.6 million tramadol pills destined for Kano in a series of intelligence-driven operations.
The crackdown also led to the arrest of multiple suspects across the country, including an 80-year-old alleged drug dealer, a businesswoman accused of importing synthetic cannabis from Canada, a Chadian national, and a couple allegedly operating a drug warehouse in Edo State.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, investigators established that three separate truckloads of tramadol intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 were linked to the same organised criminal network involved in cross-border drug trafficking.
The latest seizures involved 1,630,000 pills of 250mg tramadol hidden inside specially fabricated compartments beneath the cargo floors of two trailers travelling from Lagos to Kano.
The first trailer was intercepted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on July 2, where operatives recovered 853,000 tramadol pills and arrested the driver, 22-year-old Jabir Kabiru.
Two days later, NDLEA operatives intercepted another trailer on the same route, recovering an additional 777,000 tramadol pills concealed in a similar hidden compartment. The driver, Muhammed Nuhu, also 22, was taken into custody.
The agency noted that the latest breakthrough followed the interception of 558,900 tramadol pills concealed in another truck that entered Nigeria through the Togo–Benin Republic border only a week earlier.
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In another major operation, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted 4.70 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a highly potent synthetic strain of cannabis, concealed inside cartons labelled “Odugwu.”
The consignments, which arrived aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights from Canada on June 24 and July 3, triggered an extensive investigation that led to the arrest of cargo agents Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, as well as Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who attempted to collect the shipment from a logistics company.
Investigators later arrested 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme in Surulere, Lagos, with the support of the Nigeria Police. She reportedly confessed that she was introduced to the illicit trade by an associate based in Canada.
The nationwide anti-drug operations also yielded additional arrests and seizures.
In Rivers State, operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji in Ahoada after recovering 800 grams of skunk from his possession.
In Edo State, a raid on a suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City led to the arrest of Christian Chukwuka, 32, and his wife, Nwanneka Christian, 33. Security operatives recovered 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and another 192.67 kilograms of compressed Canadian Loud.
Meanwhile, investigations into the seizure of 50,000 tramadol pills in Kogi State led to the arrest of Hajara Abdullahi, a 38-year-old Chadian national, and her Nigerian associate, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, in Apapa, Lagos.
Beyond enforcement activities, the NDLEA said it continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools across Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states.
Commending officers involved in the nationwide operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the seizures as a significant setback for organised drug trafficking networks and urged personnel to sustain the offensive against illicit drug cartels across the country.
By PRNigeria
