NDLEA seizes massive drug consignments across nine states

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its latest nationwide crackdown has led to the seizure of large quantities of opioids, cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine across nine states.

The agency said its coordinated operations in Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu also resulted in the arrest of several suspected drug traffickers.

Among the major seizures were 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

The tablets, valued at more than N1.1 billion, were concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton shipment from Pakistan.

At the same airport, NDLEA officers recovered 57.8kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, hidden in cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore.

The agency said the consignment had remained unclaimed for weeks before a joint examination by NDLEA, Customs and other security agencies on Thursday.

Adamawa also recorded major seizures, with 864,000 opioid pills, particularly tramadol, recovered from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank.

The agency said Frank escaped after his Honda Civic rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle during an operation along the Damilu-Jambutu axis in Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area.

In another operation in Michika, a suspected methamphetamine supplier, 35-year-old Calistus Ebubechukwu, was arrested with 2kg of the substance.

In Taraba, NDLEA officers arrested 58-year-old Kelechi Unachukwu with more than 109kg of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, including tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital and pregabalin.

The drugs were allegedly being transported from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Yola, Adamawa State, in a Toyota Corolla.

Other operations led to the recovery of 1,179kg of cannabis in Kaduna, 636kg in Kogi, 117kg of already-harvested cannabis from a four-hectare farm in Ekiti and 40,590 tramadol capsules in Enugu.

The NDLEA also intercepted 598.08kg of cannabis-laced cookies and gummies in a 40-foot container at Tin Can Port, Lagos. The consignment was linked to three suspects previously arrested over the seizure of 842.54kg of similar products.

NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), praised officers involved in the operations and directed them to maintain the agency’s current approach of combining enforcement with drug-abuse awareness campaigns.

He also warned that traffickers attempting to conceal their activities behind legitimate businesses or new identities would continue to be pursued by the agency.