The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted two long trailers used to move 1,630,000 million pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in fabricated compartments of the trucks across multiple borders into Lagos.
The feat was part of ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo, through Benin Republic into Nigeria.
This was stated in a press release on Sunday by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
Interception of 1.63 million tramadol 250mg pills
The intelligence-led interdiction operation came barely a week after 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.
One of the two trucks already heading to Kano was tracked and located on 2nd July 2026 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
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, 4 July, NDLEA operatives, acting on processed 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 21 June, 2 and 4 July belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis.
In another development, two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, with a combined weight of 4.70 kilogrammes were intercepted at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.
The cargoes, which arrived at the Lagos airport from Canada in cartons with ‘Odugwu’ boldly written on them, came aboard British Airways flight and Ethiopian Airlines flight on 24 June and 3 July, respectfully.
Two cargo agents –Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga– linked to the shipments were initially arrested.
Thereafter, another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who showed up to take delivery of the consignments from a logistics company was also nabbed.
A 44-year-old businesswoman, Chioma Nneka Mokeme, who is the actual owner of the two consignments was eventually arrested on 7 July, 2026, in collaboration with the Area C Command of the Nigeria Police, Surulere Lagos.
Chioma, who claimed she was into printing business, said her friend, Agbons Collins who lives in Canada, introduced her into the criminal trade.
Meanwhile, 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 grams of skunk at the time of his arrest at Ahoada on Tuesday, 14 July.
In Edo State, a couple: Christian Chukwuka (32), and Nwanneka Christian (33), were, last Monday, arrested following a raid of their illicit drug warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City.
Twenty bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a gross weight of 192.67kg were seized from the warehouse.
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, last Sunday.
The consignment was eventually linked to the two suspects who were traced to Lagos and arrested in Apapa area of the state.
The War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
Some of them include: WADA sensitisation lecture delivered to students and staff of Government Day Junior Secondary School, Bakori, Katsina; Colliery Technical School, Ngwo, Enugu;
Starlight College, Iganmu Ijora, Lagos; Community Secondary School, Kono, Rivers; Odoro High School, Ikole Ekiti; and Government Junior Secondary School, Gabasawa, Kano, among others.
NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has commended the officers and men of MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi commands for the arrests and seizures,.
He noted that 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.
