By Emem Nsini-Godwin
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor, intercepting 1.63 million tramadol pills concealed in specially fabricated compartments of two long-haul trailers.
The agency said the intelligence-driven operation followed the interception of 558,900 tramadol pills recovered a week earlier from another truck that entered Nigeria through the same route, indicating the activities of a well-organised cross-border trafficking network.
In a statement issued on Sunday, July 19, 2026, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the first trailer, heading to Kano, was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Operatives recovered 853,000 tramadol 250mg pills hidden beneath the cargo floor and arrested the 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
Two days later, on July 4, NDLEA officers intercepted a second trailer along the same route, discovering another 777,000 tramadol pills concealed in a similar fabricated compartment. The driver, Muhammed Nuhu, 22, was arrested.
According to Babafemi, investigations revealed that the consignments seized on June 21, July 2 and July 4 were linked to the same international drug trafficking syndicate smuggling illicit substances from Togo through the Benin Republic into Nigeria.
The agency also recorded another breakthrough at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, where operatives intercepted 4.70 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a potent synthetic cannabis strain, concealed inside cartons labelled “Odugwu” and shipped from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights.
Three suspects—Ali Samson, Orimolade Oluwagbenga and Edeh Stanislus—were arrested in connection with the shipment, while the alleged owner of the consignment, 44-year-old businesswoman Chioma Nneka Mokeme, was apprehended on July 7 with the support of the Nigeria Police Area C Command in Surulere, Lagos.
According to the NDLEA, Mokeme confessed that she was introduced to the illicit drug business by a friend identified as Agbons Collins, who resides in Canada.
In separate operations across the country, NDLEA operatives arrested 80-year-old Chika Ugwoji in Ahoada, Rivers State, after recovering 800 grams of skunk from him.
In Edo State, a couple—Christian Chukwuka, 32, and Nwanneka Christian, 33—were apprehended during a raid on a suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road, Benin City. Officers recovered 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilograms, as well as 192.67 kilograms of Canadian Loud.
The agency also arrested a 38-year-old Chadian national, Hajara Abdullahi, alongside her Nigerian associate, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, in Lagos. Their arrest followed investigations into the seizure of 50,000 tramadol pills intercepted in Kogi State on July 12.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, praised their professionalism and urged them to sustain the momentum in the fight against illicit drug trafficking.
“Their efforts and those of their compatriots across the country have contributed in no small measure,” Marwa said, encouraging officers to remain vigilant in protecting the nation from the menace of illicit drugs.
