The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted at least 1,760,460 pills of Tramadol and other opioids hidden in packs of Noodles and others at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, as well as in Gombe State.
While over 600,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg coming from Karachi, Pakistan in two separate shipments on Ethiopian Airline flights were intercepted at the SAHCO Import Shed of the Lagos Airport on Monday, December 12 and Tuesday December 13; 5,960 pills of Rohypnol concealed in 60 packs of Noodles going to Johannesburg, South Africa were also seized at the SAHCO Export Shed of the Airport on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.
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The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said a female freight agent, Olaleye Adeola, has already been arrested in connection with the Noodle consignments.
In a related development, a trader at Balogun Market in Lagos Island, Akunne Chibuzor Tochukwu, was on Tuesday, December 13 arrested in collaboration with the Zone 2 Police headquarters, Lagos, over his attempt to export a Tramadol consignment to Dubai, UAE.
The consignment was seized at the Lagos Airport by NDLEA operatives on November 25, while a market labourer, Oke Abosede Ronke, whose services were requested to convey the drug for export was earlier arrested.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Sunday, December 11, intercepted a truck and a bus conveying 113 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,802.84 kilograms around the VGC Estate area of Ajah while three suspects: Taofeek Yusuf, Ifeanyi Okorie and Israel Nwachukwu were arrested in connection with the seizures.
In Gombe State, a total of 1,154,500 pills of Tramadol, Rohypnol and Exol being transported from Onitsha, Anambra State to Gombe by a truck driver, Umar Hassan, 28, were seized on Thursday, December 15 at Bye-pass area of Gombe by a team of NDLEA officers following credible intelligence.
Also, acting on intelligence, anti-narcotics operatives in Edo State on Friday, December 16 intercepted a Honda Ridgeline pick-up vehicle with Registration No. BWR 699 CV loaded with 29 bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing 319kgs.
The driver of the vehicle, Alfred Vratombo, 32, was arrested with fake police uniforms, which he was using to deceive security men on the road.
The NDLEA also said attempt by a drug dealer, Chucks Kalu, 29, to smuggle into Kano 26kgs of cannabis concealed inside packs of blenders was thwarted by its operatives who intercepted the consignment along Abuja-Kaduna expressway and later arrested him in a follow-up operation in Kano; while another suspect, Rabilu Sa’ad Abubakar, 42, was also arrested in a follow-up operation in Kano, following the seizure of his consignment – 1,980 bottles of Cough syrup with codeine, concealed inside cartons, seized along Abuja-Kaduna expressway.