NDLEA Intercepts 1.63m Tramadol Heading to Kano

NDLEA Intercepts 1.63m Tramadol Heading to Kano

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has intercepted a total of one million six hundred and thirty tramadol pills being transported to Kano from Togo.

The illicit drug was hidden in false compartments of two trailers which were intercepted in Lagos in an intelligence-led interdiction operation.

The NDLEA had barely a week ago 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.

One of the two trucks already heading to Kano was tracked and located on 2nd July 2026 along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway where 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.

Two days later on 4th July, 2026, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence successfully tracked and recovered the second trailer from the Lagos-Ibadan expressway while heading to Kano.

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.

Investigations revealed that all three trucks and consignments intercepted on 21st June, 2nd July and 4th July belong to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Agency have intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, with a combined weight of 4.70 kilograms at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The cargoes arrived the Lagos airport from Canada in cartons with ‘Odugwu’ boldly written on them aboard British Airways flight and Ethiopian Airlines flight on 24th June and 3rd July respectfully.

Two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga linked to the shipments were initially arrested following which another suspect Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus who showed up to take delivery of the consignments from a logistics company was also nabbed.

The operatives in coordination with the police eventually arrested 44-year-old businesswoman, Chioma Nneka Mokeme who is the actual owner of the consignments.

Chioma who claimed she is into printing business said her friend Agbons Collins who lives in Canada introduced her into the criminal trade.

In another development, NDLEA operatives in Rivers state have arrested an 80-year-old grandpa, Chika Ugwoji dealing in illicit substances.

The Octogenarian was found in possession of 800 grams of skunk at the time of his arrest at Ahoada on Tuesday 14th July.

In Edo state, a couple: Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were on Monday 13th July arrested following a raid of their illicit drug warehouse along Sapele road, Benin City where 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a gross weight of 192.67kg were seized.

Similarly, a Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were nabbed in Lagos following the seizure of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted in Kogi state on Sunday 12th July.

The consignment was eventually linked to the two suspects who were traced to Lagos and arrested in Apapa area of the state.

While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) said their efforts and those of their compatriots across the country have contributed in no small measure to ongoing drug control efforts across the country.

He charged them to remain vigilant at all times.