NDLEA INTERCEPTS N3.99BN TRAMADOL SHIPMENT, ARRESTS INDIAN BUSINESSMAN, ACCOMPLICES
Read Time:1 Minute, 38 Second
By Aishat Momoh. O.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a consignment of 2,248,000 tramadol pills valued at N3.99 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
The shipment, disguised as multivitamins in 114 cartons, was declared from Delhi, India, and arrived aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight on September 8.
In a statement on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said operatives monitored the cargo before intercepting a clearing agent and two drivers attempting to move it in two trucks on September 11.
The following day, a follow-up operation led to the arrest of Indian businessman Gupta Ravi Kumar when he attempted to take delivery of the consignment. Three Nigerian accomplices were also detained.
The NDLEA noted that the bust was part of a nationwide crackdown that uncovered multiple drug trafficking networks over the past week.
At the Lagos airport’s Terminal 2, officers arrested Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi en route to Doha with 900 grams of skunk hidden in crayfish. His accomplice, Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, was also detained, with 200 grams of the substance later recovered from his hotel room in Ajao Estate.
Similarly, 81.7 kilograms of Canadian Loud and 1.2 kilograms of hashish oil were recovered from a container of vehicle parts imported from Montreal, Canada, at Tincan Port, Lagos, while another 65-kilogram consignment of Loud was intercepted on Third Mainland Bridge.
In Ikorodu, Lagos, operatives raided a factory producing skuchies, a mixture of cannabis and blackcurrant drink seizing 6,029 bottles and over 4,200 kilograms of cannabis. The factory manager, Joy Awosika, and another suspect, Akeem Oriola, were arrested.
Further arrests were made across Abuja, Oyo, Kano, Anambra, Yobe, Ogun, and Edo States, with seizures including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, Akuskura, and cannabis plantations spanning over six hectares.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the operatives and urged them to sustain the momentum in the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0