The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol hidden in specially constructed compartments of two long trailers. The operatives also arrested members of a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo, Benin Republic, and Nigeria route. The anti-narcotics agency stated that the intelligence-driven operation followed a previous seizure of 558,900 tramadol pills hidden in a truck that entered the country through the same border axis a week earlier. According to a statement released on Sunday by the Director of Media and Advocacy of the agency, Femi Babafemi, one of the trailers was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while traveling to Kano State.
Babafemi stated, “Ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo, through the Benin Republic, into Nigeria have yielded another success with the interception of two long trailers used to move 1,630,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in fabricated compartments of the trucks across multiple borders into Lagos.” He further noted, “The intelligence-led interdiction operation came barely a week after the NDLEA operatives recovered 558,900 pills of the same psychoactive substance from the false-bottom compartment of a truck that came into Lagos through the Togo-Benin Republic route.” Providing more details on the first vehicle, he added, “One of the two trucks already heading to Kano was tracked and located on July 2, 2026, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where the NDLEA 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.”
The spokesperson noted that a second trailer was tracked and stopped on the same expressway on July 4, where officers recovered 777,000 pills of tramadol hidden in another fabricated compartment. The driver of the second truck, 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu, was subsequently arrested. Investigations revealed that the three separate consignments intercepted on June 21, July 2, and July 4 were all owned by the same transnational drug trafficking network.
Furthermore, the agency disclosed that its operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja intercepted two shipments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 4.70 kilogrammes. The illegal shipments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3 respectively, hidden inside cartons marked as Odugwu. Two cargo agents named Ali Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga were initially apprehended before another suspect, Edeh Stanislus, was arrested when attempting to collect the items. The actual owner of the illegal shipment, a 44-year-old businesswoman named Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was later arrested on July 7 with assistance from the Nigeria Police Area C Command in Surulere, Lagos. Babafemi stated, “Chioma, who claimed she is in the printing business, said her friend, Agbons Collins, who lives in Canada, introduced her to the criminal trade,”
In another operation in Rivers State, the agency arrested an 80-year-old suspect named Chika Ugwoji in the Ahoada area on July 14 after he was allegedly found with 800 grammes of skunk. The statement noted, “NDLEA operatives in Rivers State have arrested an 80-year-old grandpa, Chika Ugwoji, for dealing in illicit substances. The octogenarian was found in possession of 800 grammes of skunk at the time of his arrest in Ahoada on Tuesday, July 14,” Meanwhile, in Edo State, operatives arrested a couple identified as Christian Chukwuka, aged 32, and Nwanneka Christian, aged 33, during a raid on their drug warehouse located along Sapele Road in Benin City. The raid led to the confiscation of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg and 192.67kg of Canadian Loud.
The agency also arrested a Chadian national named Hajara Abdullahi, aged 38, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, aged 44, in Lagos State. The arrests were made after tracking them to a consignment containing 50,000 tramadol pills that had been intercepted in Kogi State on July 12. While commending the officers involved in the successful operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, stated that the sustained enforcement actions are producing results. Marwa stated, “Their efforts and those of their compatriots across the country have contributed in no small measure to ongoing drug control efforts across the country.” The agency head further urged all officers to remain vigilant at all times.
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