The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 2,188,900 pills of tramadol 250mg destined for Kano State in three intelligence-led operations, dismantling a major transnational drug trafficking network that smuggled the illicit consignments through Togo and the Benin Republic into Nigeria.
The seizures followed sustained surveillance by NDLEA operatives, who tracked three long trailers transporting the drugs in specially fabricated compartments beneath their cargo floors.
The Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying the latest seizures were linked to the same transnational syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria trafficking corridor.
According to Babafemi, the latest operation came barely one week after NDLEA officers intercepted 558,900 tramadol pills concealed in a false-bottom compartment of another trailer that entered Nigeria through the same route.
He said the first of the two latest trailers, driven by 22-year-old Jabir Kabiru, was intercepted on July 2, 2026, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while heading to Kano, where operatives recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor.
Babafemi added that a second trailer, driven by 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu, was intercepted on the same highway on July 4, leading to the recovery of another 777,000 pills hidden in a similar compartment.
“Investigations revealed that all three trucks and consignments intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belong to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis,” Babafemi stated.
In a related operation, NDLEA operatives intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.70 kilogrammes, at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja.
Babafemi said the consignments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3, respectively, concealed in cartons boldly labelled “Odugwu.”
He disclosed that two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were initially arrested before another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, was apprehended while attempting to collect the consignments from a logistics company.
The investigation later led to the arrest of 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, identified as the owner of the consignments.
“Chioma, who claimed to be into the printing business, admitted that her friend, Agbons Collins, who resides in Canada, introduced her to the illicit trade,” Babafemi said.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada after recovering 800 grammes of skunk from him.
Similarly, operatives in Edo State raided a warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City, arresting a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, and recovering 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes as well as 192.67 kilogrammes of Canadian Loud.
In another operation, NDLEA officers arrested 38-year-old Chadian national Hajara Abdullahi and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, in Lagos after tracing to them a consignment of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg earlier intercepted in Kogi State.
Babafemi noted that the agency also sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign across schools and communities in Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano States as part of efforts to reduce drug demand.
Commending officers involved in the operations, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described the seizures and arrests as a major boost to the agency’s campaign against illicit drug trafficking.
“The efforts of our officers and operatives across the country have contributed in no small measure to the ongoing drug control efforts nationwide. I commend their vigilance, professionalism and dedication, and urge them to remain steadfast in the discharge of their responsibilities,” Babafemi quoted Marwa as saying.
The NDLEA said it remains committed to dismantling drug trafficking networks through intelligence-driven operations, inter-agency collaboration and sustained public enlightenment to curb both the supply and demand of illicit substances across Nigeria.
