In a series of strategic operations, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has successfully confiscated a staggering 14,481,519 pills of tramadol and bottles of codeine syrup, amounting to a street value of N13 billion. The crackdown occurred across multiple locations, including Amuwo Odofin, Surulere, and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos State.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, revealed details in a statement on Sunday, outlining the agency’s efforts to combat drug trafficking. The operations led to the arrest of ten suspects, encompassing a range of individuals, including three blind men and a businessman, accused of trafficking drugs.
The operations began with a raid on various hideouts of drug cartels in Amuwo Odofin, Surulere, and the SAHCO warehouses at the Lagos airport. The seizures included 490,000 pills of tramadol and 81,519 bottles of codeine syrup from a residence in Amuwo Odofin, followed by an additional 12,700,000 pills of tramadol recovered from a secret warehouse in Surulere operated by a billionaire Idumota trader, Nwaoha Anayo.
Babafemi highlighted the significance of the crackdown on smuggling networks at the Lagos airport, where six suspects were apprehended. The statement mentioned the recovery of one million, two hundred and ten thousand (1,210,000) pills of tramadol in an operation that lasted for weeks. However, three suspects remain at large and are wanted by the NDLEA.
In a separate operation at Abuja International Airport, businessman Nwokolo Ifeanyi Anthony was arrested while attempting to board a flight to the Netherlands with 86 pellets of heroin concealed in his belly. The agency’s operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport intercepted yet another businessman, 50-year-old Nwokolo Ifeanyi Anthony, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF 878 to Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The NDLEA operations extended beyond pills and syrups, with the interception of 22 parcels of cocaine concealed in a fabric carton heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the agency arrested three blind men involved in an illicit drug ring between Lagos and Kano. The syndicate’s operations were uncovered following the arrest of a blind suspect, Adamu Hassan, carrying 12 kg of skunk. Subsequent investigations led to the arrest of the syndicate’s leader, Bello Abubakar, and another member, Muktar Abubakar.
Further operations in Osun, Edo, and Ogun states targeted cannabis farms and trans-loading points, resulting in multiple arrests and the seizure of substantial quantities of illicit substances. The statement concluded with the recovery of a Toyota Sienna bus on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, containing 460 kg of the same substance, and the seizure of 116.5 kg of cannabis sativa in Lagos.
