NDLEA intercepts 1.63 million tramadol pills, arrests suspects in nationwide drug crackdown

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1,630,000 pills of tramadol concealed in fabricated compartments of two long trailers and arrested several suspects in a series of coordinated anti-drug operations across Nigeria.
In a statement issued on Sunday, July 19, 2026, by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the agency said the seizure was part of ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo through Benin Republic into Nigeria.
According to the agency, one of the trailers heading to Kano was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg hidden beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
Two days later, NDLEA operatives tracked and intercepted the second trailer along the same route, recovering 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg. The driver, 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu, was also arrested.
Investigations revealed that the two consignments, alongside an earlier seizure of 558,900 tramadol pills on June 21, belonged to the same trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria axis.
The agency also disclosed that two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing a combined 4.70 kilograms, were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. The shipments arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3 respectively.
Following the seizures, cargo agents Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga were arrested, while another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, was apprehended when he appeared to collect the consignments from a logistics company.
The actual owner of the consignments, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was later arrested on July 7 in collaboration with the Area C Command of the Nigeria Police, Surulere, Lagos. Chioma reportedly told investigators that a friend based in Canada, Agbons Collins, introduced her to the illicit trade.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, at Ahoada with 800 grams of skunk in his possession.
Similarly, in Edo State, a couple, Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33, were arrested after a raid on their drug warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City. Officers recovered 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilograms.
In another operation, a Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, 38, and her Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, were arrested in Lagos after NDLEA linked them to the seizure of 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted in Kogi State on July 12.
The agency added that its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign continued across several schools in Katsina, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Ekiti and Kano states during the past week.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi commands for their vigilance and contributions to the ongoing fight against drug trafficking in the country.