Again NDLEA seizes N3.7 billion tramadol at Lagos airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency operatives have aborted plans to smuggle over five million pills of Tramadol said to be worth N3.7 billion into the country.

In a statement made available to journalists by NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said operatives succeeded through the collaboration of men of the Nigeria Customs Service and others working at the airport’s DHL cargo warehouse.
He, however, did not disclose when the pills were intercepted.

“Attempts to smuggle 98 cartons containing 5,122,900 pills of Tramadol 225mg with an estimated street value of about N3.7bn only into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, have been thwarted through the robust synergy between men of the Nigeria Customs Service and NDLEA officers at the airport as well as those at the DHL cargo warehouse,” the statement added.

The NDLEA spokesman added that preliminary investigations revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, while some of the seized consignments had Freetown, Sierra Leone as the final destination.

Meanwhile, the agency, according to Babafemi, also arrested a suspected drug kingpin identified as Charles Uwagbale in his hotel room in the Okota area of Lagos.