The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has intercepted 1,630,000 pills of tramadol 250mg smuggled into Lagos in two trailers as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis.

According to NDLEA, the intelligence-led operation came barely a week after operatives recovered 558,900 pills from another truck on the same route.

On 2nd July 2026,  operatives tracked and intercepted a trailer along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway heading to Kano. They recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor and arrested the driver, 22-year-old Jabir Kabiru.

Two days later, on 4th July, a second trailer was recovered on the same expressway. 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg were evacuated and the driver, 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu, was arrested.

Investigations revealed that all three trucks intercepted on 21st June, 2nd July and 4th July belong to the same syndicate.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, NDLEA intercepted 4.70kg of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis. The cargoes arrived from Canada on 24th June and 3rd July aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights in cartons boldly marked ‘Odugwu’.

Two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were arrested. Another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who came to take delivery, was also nabbed.

On 7th July, the actual owner, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was arrested in Surulere in collaboration with the Nigeria Police. She claimed she was introduced to the trade by a friend in Canada.

– In Rivers State, an 80-year-old grandpa, Chika Ugwoji, was arrested in Ahoada on 14th July with 800 grams of skunk.

– In Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested on 13th July during a raid in Benin City. 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg and 192.67kg of compressed Canadian Loud were seized.

– In Kogi and Lagos, a Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested after 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg were intercepted in Kogi on 12th July. The suspects were traced to Apapa, Lagos.

The NDLEA said operations are ongoing to track other members of the syndicates.

Source: NDLEA