(SINL NIGERIA) The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in two articulated trucks linked to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.
The agency said the intelligence-driven operation followed the earlier seizure of 558,900 tramadol pills recovered from another truck belonging to the same syndicate.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the first truck was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while heading to Kano. Operatives 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.
He said a second trailer was intercepted on the same route on July 4, leading to the recovery of another 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a similar compartment. The driver, Muhammed Nuhu, 22, was also arrested.
According to the agency, investigations revealed that the three trucks intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belonged to the same cross-border drug trafficking syndicate.
In a separate operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.7 kilograms.
The consignments, which arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3, were concealed in cartons labelled “Odugwu.”
Two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were initially arrested, while another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, was apprehended when he attempted to collect the shipments from a logistics company.
Further investigation led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignments, 44-year-old Chioma Nneka Mokeme, in Surulere, Lagos, on July 7, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police. She reportedly told investigators that a friend based in Canada introduced her to the illicit drug trade.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, at Ahoada with 800 grams of skunk.
Similarly, in Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested after operatives raided their warehouse on Sapele Road, Benin City. The operation led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilograms.
Also, a Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after investigations linked them to 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted in Kogi State on July 12.
SINL NIgeria Online reports that the agency also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign with awareness programmes in schools across Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states.
Reacting, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the successful operations, urging them to sustain the momentum in the fight against illicit drug trafficking across the country.
