The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has stopped 1.63 million tramadol pills hidden in special compartments of two long trailers. They also arrested members of a drug trafficking gang operating between Togo, Benin Republic, and Nigeria.
The agency said this operation was based on intelligence. It came after they seized 558,900 tramadol pills hidden in a truck that entered Nigeria through the same route just a week earlier.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, shared details on Sunday. He said one trailer was stopped on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while heading to Kano.
Babafemi explained that officers found 853,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) hidden under the cargo floor of the trailer. They arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
"Our ongoing efforts to break up a drug trafficking gang smuggling tramadol from Togo, through Benin Republic, into Nigeria have been successful again. We intercepted two long trailers carrying 1,630,000 pills of tramadol 250mg hidden in special compartments across several borders into Lagos," he said.
"This intelligence-led operation happened just a week after we recovered 558,900 pills of the same drug from a hidden compartment in a truck that came into Lagos through the Togo-Benin Republic route."
Babafemi mentioned that the second trailer was tracked and stopped on the same expressway on July 4. Officers recovered 777,000 pills of tramadol (250mg) hidden in another compartment. The driver, 22-year-old Muhammed Nuhu, was also arrested.
He said investigations revealed that the three shipments intercepted on June 21, July 2, and July 4 were all linked to the same drug trafficking gang.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, praised the officers involved in these operations. He said their hard work is producing results.
Marwa stated, "Their efforts, along with those of their colleagues across the country, have greatly helped in the fight against drug abuse in Nigeria."
He urged officers to stay alert at all times.
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