… Agency Nabs Chadian Woman, Couple, Truck Drivers In Nationwide Anti-Drug Operations
Daud Olatunji
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intensified its crackdown on drug trafficking across the country, arresting an 80-year-old alleged drug dealer, dismantling suspected drug warehouses and intercepting more than 1.63 million tramadol pills linked to a transnational trafficking syndicate operating across Togo, the Benin Republic and Nigeria.
The agency said the operations, carried out in Rivers, Edo, Lagos, Kogi and at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, led to the arrest of several suspects, including a Chadian national, a couple allegedly operating an illicit drug warehouse, and two truck drivers.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the development in a statement issued on Sunday.
According to the statement, operatives arrested an 80-year-old man, Chika Ugwoji, in Ahoada, Rivers State, on July 14 after allegedly recovering 800 grammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, from him.
In another operation, the agency raided a suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City, Edo State, where it arrested Christian Chukwuka, 32, and his wife, Nwanneka, 33.
The NDLEA said operatives recovered 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes and compressed blocks of the potent cannabis strain known as Canadian Loud weighing 192.67 kilogrammes from the warehouse.
The agency also announced the arrest of a 38-year-old Chadian woman, Hajara Abdullahi, and her alleged Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, in Lagos after investigators linked them to a consignment of 50,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg earlier intercepted in Kogi State.
Babafemi said intelligence gathered after the seizure enabled operatives to trace the suspects to the Apapa area of Lagos, where they were apprehended.
In a separate operation, the NDLEA uncovered what it described as a transnational drug trafficking network after intercepting two Kano-bound trailers conveying a total of 1.63 million pills of Tramadol 250mg hidden inside specially fabricated compartments beneath the cargo floors.
The agency said one of the trucks was intercepted on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on July 2, leading to the recovery of 853,000 tramadol pills and the arrest of its 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
Another trailer was intercepted two days later with 777,000 tramadol pills similarly concealed. Its driver, Muhammed Nuhu, also 22, was arrested.
According to the NDLEA, investigations linked both consignments to another truck intercepted on June 21 with 558,900 tramadol pills, indicating the existence of a trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.
The agency also intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud weighing 4.70 kilogrammes at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
The shipments, which arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights, were allegedly concealed in cartons labelled “Odugwu.”
Following investigations, cargo agents Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga were arrested alongside Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, who was allegedly attempting to collect the consignments.
The alleged owner of the drugs, Chioma Nneka Mokeme, 44, was later arrested in collaboration with operatives of the Nigeria Police Force Area C Command, Surulere, Lagos.
