‎NDLEA Raid Transnational Drug Ring, Seizes 1.63 Million Tramadol Pills Hidden in Trucks

‎…Businesswoman, Chadian national, couple, others arrested in nationwide anti-drug operations

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor, seizing 1.63 million tramadol pills concealed in two trailers bound for Kano.

‎The intelligence-driven operation exposed 1,630,000 pills of 250mg tramadol hidden in specially fabricated compartments beneath the cargo floors of the trailers, marking one of the agency’s major breakthroughs against cross-border drug trafficking.

‎According to the NDLEA, the latest seizures came barely a week after operatives intercepted another trailer carrying 558,900 tramadol pills concealed in a false compartment after entering Nigeria through the same Togo–Benin Republic route.

‎The first trailer was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where officers recovered 853,000 tramadol pills and arrested its 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.

‎Two days later, operatives tracked and intercepted a second trailer on the same route while it was en route to Kano. A further 777,000 tramadol pills were recovered, while the driver, 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu, was taken into custody.

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‎Investigations revealed that the three intercepted consignments were linked to the same transnational drug trafficking network.

‎In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis weighing a combined 4.7 kilograms, at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

‎The shipments, which arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3, were concealed inside cartons labelled “Odugwu.”

The agency initially arrested two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, in connection with the consignments. Another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, was later apprehended after arriving at a logistics company to collect the shipments.

‎Further investigations led to the arrest of 44-year-old businesswoman, Chioma Nneka Mokeme, in Surulere, Lagos, on July 7 in a joint operation with the Nigeria Police Force. She reportedly confessed to participating in the illicit trade, claiming she was recruited by a friend based in Canada.

‎Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives arrested an 80-year-old suspect, Chika Ugwoji, in Ahoada, Rivers State, after allegedly recovering 800 grams of skunk from him.

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In Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested during a raid on a suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City.

The operation resulted in the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms, as well as compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilograms.

In another operation, a Chadian national, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian associate, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after investigations linked them to the seizure of 50,000 tramadol pills intercepted in Kogi State on July 12. The suspects were subsequently tracked and arrested in the Apapa area of Lagos.

Beyond enforcement, the agency sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign with sensitisation programmes conducted in schools across Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states.

‎Commending officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the successful operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), praised their professionalism and dedication, urging them to remain vigilant in the fight against drug trafficking across the country.