The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) frustrated attempts by suspected members of a tramadol drug cartel to smuggle over 2.4 million tablets into Nigeria.
Femi Babafemi, spokesperson of the NDLEA, said on Sunday that the pharmaceutical opioids of 225mg and 250mg, brands, weighing 2,356kg, with an estimated street value of N1.04 billion were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The seizure of the drug on Friday, October 7 came barely a week after about 13.5 million pills of the same opioid worth over N8.8billion were recovered by the NDLEA from one of the mansions of a billionaire drug baron in Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lekki, Lagos.
Working with credible intelligence, the agency had shown interest in the consignment of 52 cartons that came into Nigeria from Karachi, Pakistan with six different airway bills via Ethiopian Airline flight, comprising seven cartons of 250mg of a brand called tamral and 45 cartons of 225mg, branded as tramaking.
Babafemi said after its arrival at the Lagos airport, the NDLEA called for a joint examination of the consignment with other stakeholders and after its information was confirmed by all, the 52 cartons of the seized substance which are above the recommended threshold for medical use and banned in the country, were moved to the agency’s facility.
In the same vein, another bid to export 15 parcels of cannabis and 600grams of tramadol 225mg concealed in a sack of crayfish to Dubai, UAE, through the Lagos airport, was also thwarted by the agency’s operatives who seized the consignment and subsequently arrested a freight agent, Osahor Ekwueme, who presented it for export.
Read also: NDLEA arrests another billionaire drug baron in VGC Lagos
He also disclosed that weeks after NDLEA operatives intercepted 5.20kgs of cannabis concealed in kegs of palm oil going to Dubai at the NAHCO export shed, the brain behind the consignment, Ifeanyi Egbuwaohia, has been arrested in Igando area of Lagos.
“Though Ifeanyi works as a technician at Computer Village, Ikeja but beneath his known business, he also works with a drug network in Dubai, where he sends illicit drugs for distribution.
“Few hours after his arrest, another consignment of 2.60kgs of the same substance sent by him for export to Dubai was also intercepted by operatives at the Lagos airport.
“Another consignment of 1.30kgs of cannabis concealed in reconstructed engine blocks going to Dubai have also been seized at the SAHCO export shed while two persons: Olatunji Temiola and Osemojoye Sunday have been arrested.
“Meanwhile, In Kaduna State, a female drug dealer, Peace Ayuba, was on Friday, October 7 arrested at Kakau Gonin Gora with 78 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 849.5kgs, while operatives in Sokoto State arrested Onyeka Owo, 28, with 443 bottles of codeine based syrup.
The agency also revealed that a notorious drug dealer in Alaba Rago area of Ojo, Lagos, Surajo Mohammed has been convicted and sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Yellin Dogoro, ten months after his arrest by the NDLEA.
