By JKNewsMedia
LATEST INTELLIGENCE-led operations targeting a transnational drug trafficking syndicate have led to the interception of two trailers conveying 1,630,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in fabricated compartments after the consignments were smuggled from Togo through Benin Republic into Nigeria, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the agency said the latest operation came barely a week after its operatives recovered 558,900 pills of the same psychoactive substance hidden in the false bottom compartment of a truck that entered Lagos through the Togo Benin Republic route.
NDLEA said officers tracked one of the trailers heading to Kano and intercepted it on 2 July 2026 along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway. Officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22 year old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
The agency said operatives acting on processed intelligence intercepted the second trailer on 4 July along the same expressway while it was also heading to Kano. Officers recovered 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22 year old driver, Muhammed Nuhu.
Investigations, the agency said, revealed that the three trucks intercepted on 21 June, 2 July and 4 July, together with their consignments, belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo Benin Republic Nigeria axis.
At the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA said it intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud weighing 4.70kg.
The consignments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on 24 June and 3 July in cartons marked Odugwu.
The agency said cargo agents Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga were initially arrested before Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus was apprehended when he arrived at a logistics company to take delivery of the consignments.
NDLEA said a 44-year-old businesswoman, Chioma Nneka Mokeme, identified as the owner of the consignments, was arrested on 7 July 2026 in collaboration with the Area C Command of the Nigeria Police, Surulere, Lagos.
The agency said she claimed she was into the printing business and that her friend, Agbons Collins, who lives in Canada, introduced her to the criminal trade.
In Rivers State, NDLEA said operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada on 14 July after recovering 800g of skunk from him.
The agency also said operatives in Edo State arrested Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, during a raid on their warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City, on 13 July. Officers seized 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67kg.
NDLEA further disclosed that Hajara Abdullahi, 38, a Chadian woman, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Apapa, Lagos, after a consignment of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted in Kogi State on 12 July was linked to them.
The agency said its War Against Drug Abuse campaign continued during the week with sensitisation lectures at 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 and Chief Executive Officer Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa Retd commended officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the arrests and seizures.
He said their efforts and those of other personnel across the country had contributed to ongoing drug control efforts and urged them to remain vigilant at all times.
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