NDLEA intercepts 1.63 million Tramadol pills hidden in trucks bound for Kano
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol (250mg) concealed in specially fabricated compartments of two articulated trucks. According to a statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, the intelligence-led operation followed the seizure of 558,900 tramadol pills recovered from a truck on the same route barely a week earlier, bringing the total number of tramadol pills intercepted from the syndicate in recent operations to more than 2.18 million.
It also revealed that one of the trucks, which was headed for Kano, was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Operatives discovered 853,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) hidden in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor and arrested the driver. A second truck was tracked and intercepted on the same expressway on July 4 while also en route to Kano. Officers recovered 777,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) concealed in a similar compartment beneath the trailer’s cargo floor and arrested another driver.
Investigations by the agency revealed that the three trucks intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking network smuggling illicit drugs from Togo through the Benin Republic into Nigeria. In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.7 kilograms.
The consignments, which arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3, were concealed in cartons labelled “Odugwu.” The agency said investigations led to the arrest of cargo agents linked to the shipments, as well as another suspect who attempted to collect the consignments from a logistics company. Further investigations resulted in the arrest of the alleged owner of the drugs in collaboration with the Nigeria Police.
