NDLEA intercepts 1.7m opioid pills hidden in noodles, others at Lagos airport, Gombe

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted over 1.7 million pills of Tramadol and other opioids hidden in packs of noodles and others products at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos as well as in Gombe State.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said on Sunday in Abuja that while over 600,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg coming from Karachi, Pakistan in two separate shipments on Ethiopian Airlines flights were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th December; 5,960 pills of Rohypnol concealed in 60 packs of Indomie noodles going to Johannesburg, South Africa were also seized at the SAHCO export shed of the airport on Wednesday 14th December.

According to the NDLEA’s mouthpiece, a female freight agent, Olaleye Adeola has been arrested in connection with the noodles consignment.

In a related development, a trader at Balogun market in Lagos Island, Akunne Chibuzor Tochukwu was on Tuesday 13th December arrested in collaboration with the Zone 2 Police Headquarters, Lagos over his attempt to export a Tramadol consignment to Dubai, UAE.

“The consignment was seized at the Lagos airport by NDLEA operatives on 25th November while a market labourer, Oke Abosede Ronke whose services were requested to convey the drug for export had earlier been arrested,” he said.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Sunday 11th December intercepted a truck and a bus conveying 113 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,802.84kgs around the VGC estate area of Ajah while three suspects: Taofeek Yusuf; Ifeanyi Okorie; and Israel Nwachukwu were arrested in connection with the seizures.

Also, in Gombe State, over 1.5 million pills of Tramadol, Rohypnol and Exol being transported from Onitsha, Anambra State to Gombe by a truck driver, Umar Hassan, 28, was seized on Thursday 15th December at the Bye pass area of the state by a team of NDLEA officers following credible intelligence.

Moreso, acting on intelligence, operatives in Edo State on Friday 16th December intercepted a Honda Ridgeline pick-up vehicle with Reg No BWR 699 CV loaded with 29 bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing 319 kilograms. The driver of the vehicle, Alfred Vratombo, 32, was arrested with fake police uniforms, which he used to deceive security men on the road.

Also, an attempt by a drug dealer, Chucks Kalu, 29, to smuggle into Kano State 26kgs of cannabis concealed inside packs of blenders was thwarted by operatives who intercepted the consignment along the Abuja-Kaduna express road. He was later arrested in a follow-up operation in Kano, just as another suspect, Rabilu Sa’ad Abubakar, 42, was apprehended in an operation in Kano, following the seizure of his consignment of 1,980 bottles of cough syrup with codeine concealed inside cartons which were seized along Abuja-Kaduna express road.

(Daily Trust)