Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted at least one million, seven hundred and sixty thousand, four hundred and sixty (1,760,460) pills of Tramadol and other opioids, in Lagos and Gombe, and unearthed a drug bunk in Delta State.
Femi Babafemi, the anti-narcotics agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, disclosed this in a statement issued Sunday, 18 December, 2022.
TheFact Daily gathers that operatives intercepted over six hundred thousand (600,000) pills of Tramadol 225mg coming in from Karachi, Pakistan in two separate shipments on Ethiopian Airlines flight, on Monday, 12th and Tuesday, 13th December. On Wednesday, 14 December, They also intercepted 5,960 Rohypnol pills concealed in 60 packs of Indomie noodles being shipped to Johannesburg, South Africa, and arrested a female freight agent, Oleleye Areola, in connection with the noodles consignment.
In a related development, a trader at Balogun market in Lagos Island, Akunne Chibuzor Tochukwu, was arrested on Tuesday, 13 December by NDLEA agents with collaboration of the Zone 2 Police Headquarters Lagos, over his attempt to export a Tramadol consignment to Dubai, UAE. The consignment was seized at the Lagos Airport by NDLEA agents on 25 November, while a market labourer, Oke Abosede Ronke, who was requested to convey the drug for export, had earlier been arrested.
Also in Lagos, operatives on Sunday, 11 December, around the Victoria Garden City Estate area in Ajah, intercepted a truck and bus conveying 113 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,802.84 kg. Three suspects, Taofeek Yusuf, Ifeanyi Okorie, and Israel Nwachukwu, were arrested in connection with the seizures.
In Gombe State a total of 1,154,500 pills of Tramadol, Rohypnol and Exol were seized on Thursday, 15 December. The suspect, Umar Hassan, a truck driver, transporting the opioids from Onitsha, in Anambra State, to Gombe, was arrested at the Bye pass area of Gombe State, following credible information.
Also acting on intelligence, operatives in Edo State on Friday 16 December, intercepted a Honda Ridgeline pick-up vehicle with registration number BWR 699 CV loaded with 29 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 319 kg. The driver of the vehicle, Alfred Vratombo, was arrested with fake police uniforms which he was using to deceive security operatives on the road.
In Delta State, anti-narcotics agents stormed the home of a drug kingpin, identified as Okrika Kingsley Ozioma, at Usiefurum town, Ughelli South LGA, where an underground drug bunk was uncovered in a three-bedroom bungalow building owned by the suspect who is currently at large. 17kg of cannabis sativa were recovered from the bunk, in addition to a silver 2003 Gulf car with registration number KJA 572 AZ, used for the distribution of the illicit substance within and outside Warri.
