The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency foiled the tramadol drug cartel’s desperate attempts to smuggle over 2 million tablets of the pharmaceutical opioid into Nigeria.
In a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s spokesperson, the drugs which came in 225mg and 250mg, weighed 2,356kgs and with an estimated street value of over N1 billion was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
Babafemi said that the drug was seized on Friday 7th October, which came barely a week after about a 13.5million pills of the same opioid worth over N8.8billion was recovered from one of the mansions of a billionaire drug baron in the highbrow residential estate, of Victoria Garden City, VGC, Lekki Lagos.
He said, “Following credible intelligence, the Agency had shown interest in the consignment of 52 cartons that came into Nigeria from Karachi, Pakistan with six different airway bills via Ethiopian Airline flight, comprising seven cartons of 250mg of a brand called Tamral and 45 cartons of 225mg, branded as Tramaking.
“Soon after its arrival at the Lagos airport, the NDLEA called for a joint examination of the consignment with other stakeholders and after its information was confirmed by all, the 52 cartons of the seized substance which are above the recommended threshold for medical use and banned in the country, were moved to the Agency’s facility.”
In the same vein, another bid to export through the airport 15 parcels of cannabis and 600grams of tramadol 225mg concealed in a sack of crayfish to Dubai, UAE was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and subsequently arrested a freight agent, Osahor Alex Ekwueme, who presented it for export.
Also weeks after NDLEA operatives intercepted 5.20kgs of cannabis concealed in kegs of palm oil going to Dubai at the NAHCO export shed of the airport, the brain behind the consignment, Ifeanyi Egbuwaohia, was arrested in Igando area of Lagos.
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According to Babafemi, the suspect Ifeanyi works as a technician at Computer Village, Ikeja but beneath his known business, he also works with a drug network in Dubai, where he sends illicit drugs for distribution.
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“Few hours after his arrest, another consignment of 2.60kgs of the same substance sent by him for export to Dubai was also intercepted by operatives at the airport.
“Another consignment of 1.30kgs of cannabis concealed in reconstructed engine blocks going to Dubai have also been seized at the SAHCO export shed while two persons: Olatunji Kehinde Temiola and Osemojoye Femi Sunday have been arrested in connection to the bid.”
In the same vein, a female drug dealer, Peace Ayuba, was on Friday 7th October arrested at Kakau Gonin Gora, Kaduna State with 78 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 849.5kgs, while operatives in Sokoto state arrested Onyeka Owo, 28, with 443 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
Meanwhile, ten months after his arrest by NDLEA, Alhaji Surajo Mohammed, the notorious drug dealer in the Alaba Rago area of Ojo, Lagos, has been convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Yellin Dogoro.
“Surajo was arrested with 941.15kgs cannabis on Monday 20th December 2021 and arraigned in court in charge number FHC/L/370c/2021.
“In his judgment delivered on Thursday 6th October 2022, the Judge however gave the convict an option of seven million naira fine,” Babafemi added.
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