By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
NDLEA Arrests Indian Businessman, Nigerians Over ₦3.9bn Tramadol Seizure At Lagos Airport
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, and three Nigerian nationals in connection with a large shipment of tramadol pills worth an estimated ₦3.9 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The suspects — identified as Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode, and Bakare Korede Muheeb — were linked to 2,248,000 pills of tramadol (200mg and 225mg), packed in 114 cartons and disguised as multi-vitamins. The consignment, flown in from Delhi, India, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, was intercepted at the airport’s import shed on Monday, September 8.
According to the NDLEA, officers had placed the cargo under close surveillance. On Thursday, September 11, they arrested a clearing agent and two drivers attempting to move the drugs out of the facility with two trucks. A follow-up sting operation led to the arrest of Kumar, who allegedly attempted to take delivery of the shipment the next day.
In a related case, NDLEA operatives at the Terminal 2 departure gate of the Lagos airport intercepted a passenger, Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi, on September 7, as he prepared to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha. A search of his luggage uncovered 900 grammes of cannabis (skunk) hidden in dried crayfish.
He later confessed that the bag was handed to him by a Nigerian based in Qatar, identified as Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, who was immediately arrested. A search of Uchenna’s hotel room in Ajao Estate revealed an additional 200 grammes of the drug.
At the Tincan Port, Lagos, operatives also discovered 161 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 81.7kg, and 1.2kg of hashish oil concealed inside a 40-foot container of vehicle parts and used cars from Montreal, Canada.
Two suspects, John Ochigbo, 53, and Okeke Kingsley, 26, were arrested after a joint examination of the container on September 9. Another consignment of 65kg of Loud was later traced to a Toyota Sienna on the Third Mainland Bridge, where NDLEA officers intercepted the vehicle and arrested the driver, Abubakar Ibrahim, 42.
Further operations across Lagos saw seizures at courier companies, including six grammes of methamphetamine hidden in a picture frame bound for Gabon and 1.1kg of Loud packed in video players and headed for the United Arab Emirates.
In Ikorodu, Lagos, NDLEA raided a factory producing “skuchies,” a cocktail of cannabis and blackcurrant drink. Officers recovered 6,029 bottles of the substance alongside 4,232kg of cannabis. The factory manager, Joy Awosika, was arrested, while another suspect, Akeem Oriola, was caught in Mushin with 26kg of skunk.
Similar operations extended to Abuja and Oyo State. In the Federal Capital Territory, a dispatch rider, Godsplan Vincent, 29, was arrested with 50.7 grammes of cocaine and 66 grammes of Loud during a stop-and-search in Utako. In Oyo town, three women — Faidat Azeez, 25; Alanu Fatimoh, 40; and Mojeed Taiwo, 25 — were caught with 17kg of skunk in separate raids.
Elsewhere, along the Zaria–Kano road, operatives seized 100,000 tramadol pills from a suspect, Musa Shuaibu, 38, while 196 litres of Akuskura, a psychoactive substance, were recovered from another suspect in a different operation.
The NDLEA said the seizures underscore its determination to dismantle drug trafficking networks and prevent illicit substances from flooding Nigerian communities.
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