NDLEA Intercepts 1.63 Million Tramadol Pills, Arrests 80-Year-Old Suspect, Others

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in two trailers heading to Kano from Lagos, as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria route.
According to a statement by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the first trailer was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol hidden beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
A second trailer was intercepted on the same route on July 4, leading to the recovery of 777,000 tramadol pills concealed in a similar fabricated compartment. Its 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu, was also arrested.
The agency said investigations revealed that the two trailers, alongside an earlier truck intercepted on June 21 with 558,900 tramadol pills, were linked to the same international drug trafficking network.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives also intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 4.7 kilograms. The shipments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights.
Three suspects, including two cargo agents and a man who attempted to collect the consignments, were arrested during investigations. The alleged owner of the drugs, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was later apprehended in Lagos with the support of the Nigeria Police. She reportedly confessed that a Canada-based associate introduced her to the illicit trade.
In Rivers State, operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, at Ahoada after he was allegedly found in possession of 800 grams of skunk.
In Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka and Nwanneka Christian, were arrested during a raid on a drug warehouse in Benin City, where officers recovered 22 bags of cannabis weighing 219.5 kilograms and 192.67 kilograms of Canadian Loud.
Similarly, a Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, were arrested in Lagos after investigations linked them to a consignment of 50,000 tramadol pills earlier intercepted in Kogi State.
The NDLEA also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign across schools in Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states.
Commending officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the commands for the successful arrests and seizures, urging personnel to remain vigilant in the agency’s ongoing fight against drug trafficking nationwide.