NDLEA intercepts 1.63 million tramadol pills bound for Kano, arrests 80-year-old suspect, others

By Adebola Isimijola, Lagos

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of 250mg tramadol concealed in specially fabricated compartments of two articulated trucks heading for Kano, in a major breakthrough against a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.

The anti-narcotics agency also arrested the two truck drivers, intercepted consignments of synthetic cannabis imported from Canada and apprehended several suspects, including an 80-year-old man, during coordinated operations in Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi states.

According to a statement signed by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, July 19, 2026, the first trailer was intercepted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on July 2, leading to the recovery of 853,000 tramadol pills concealed beneath its cargo floor and the arrest of its driver, Jabir Kabiru, 22.

He said a second trailer was tracked and intercepted on the same route on July 4 while heading to Kano, where operatives recovered another 777,000 tramadol pills hidden in a fabricated compartment beneath the truck’s cargo floor and arrested the driver, Mohammed Nuhu, also 22.

Babafemi said investigations established that the consignments intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling illicit drugs into Nigeria through Togo and the Benin Republic.

The NDLEA spokesman added that operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.70 kilogrammes, imported from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights.

He said three suspects, including two cargo agents and the alleged owner of the consignments, 44-year-old Chioma Nneka Mokeme, were arrested during the investigation. The suspect allegedly confessed that a friend based in Canada introduced her to the illicit trade.

In Rivers State, operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada with 800 grammes of skunk, while in Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested after operatives raided their warehouse in Benin City and recovered 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilogrammes.

Similarly, a Chadian national, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after investigations linked them to the seizure of 50,000 pills of 225mg tramadol intercepted in Kogi State.

The statement added that the agency sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign in schools across Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states during the week.

Commending the officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said, “Their efforts and those of their compatriots across the country have contributed in no small measure to ongoing drug control efforts across the country.”

He charged the officers and men of the agency to “remain vigilant at all times.”