NDLEA Busts Trans-Border Trafficking Syndicate

In a breakthrough against drug trafficking in Nigeria, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have dismantled a trans-border drug syndicate, arresting four suspects and seizing tramadol pills worth multi-million naira hidden in vehicle bumpers and false compartments.

According to a statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the vehicle was intercepted along the Nasarawa-Toto Road in Keffi, Nasarawa State, at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, January 27, 2025.

He added that two suspects, Zahradeen Adamu, 27, and Abubakar Usman, 44, were arrested in the vehicle, which was travelling from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Yola, Adamawa State.

Babafemi said a second Sienna bus driven by Abba Usman, 48, was also stopped for inspection.

During the search, Babafemi noted that operatives uncovered specially constructed steel compartments concealed within the rear bumpers and the space designated for spare tyres.

“During a search of the two vehicles, specially constructed steel compartments were discovered after the removal of the back bumper where a total of 190, 960 pills of tramadol were concealed and, in the space, designed to house the spare tyre of the vehicles.

“Investigations revealed that an Onitsha, Anambra State-based dealer, Kingsley Mbaeri, was the supplier of the seized tramadol consignment. A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of Mbaeri at his Uga Street, Onitsha home on January 29. Two vehicles: a Toyota Corolla car marked FGG 948 MF and a Toyota Sienna bus marked GWA 23 HH were recovered from his house,” the statement stated.

Babafemi said in another intelligence-led operation, the NDLEA officers intercepted a commercial bus at the Abaji checkpoint, Federal Capital Territory, on February 4.

He said a passenger, Chimezie Henry Ojingwa, 32, was found carrying motor spare parts in a black bag.

Upon inspection, the bag contained 404.47 grams of methamphetamine, 506.49 grams of Loud (a synthetic strain of cannabis), and 262.32 grams of dimethyl sulfone, a precursor substance for mixing methamphetamine.

“In Cross River State, the NDLEA officers on patrol along the Ogoja-Abakaliki Road, on Thursday, February 13, intercepted 170,000 pills of tramadol in a truck driven by Paul Chukwudi, 31, while operatives at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Tuesday, February 11, recovered 85,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup in a container imported from India.

“Two suspects: Halilu Isa and Gambo Umaru, were nabbed at Bama Road, Maiduguri, Borno State on Friday, February 14, with 60 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 72kg,” the statement added.

Babafemi also said the NDLEA operatives in Ekiti state on Tuesday, February 11, raided a notorious drug joint at Iloda Street, Ikole-Ekiti where they arrested three suspects: Bala Muhammed, 57; Yahaya Adamu, 55, and Abdullahi Shehu, 30.

“A total of 83 kilograms of skunk were recovered from them,’ he added.

In Lagos, 28-year-old Samiat Olabisi Yussuf was on Saturday, February 15, arrested by operatives during a raid of her Lekki home where 169.5 litres of nitrous oxide popularly known as laughing gas and 111 grams of Loud were recovered. No fewer than 132.84 kilograms of skunk were recovered from two suspects: Ibrahim Usman, 40, and Solomon James, 40, in Taraba. While Usman was nabbed with 88kg of Arizona and Ghana Loud at Wukari, James was arrested with 44.84kg of the same substance at Takanaba, Sabongari, in Jalingo LGA,” the statement added.