The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted 143.8 million tablets of Tramadol imported into Nigeria from India.
According to available information, the illicit drugs, weighing 10,386kg, were mixed with cartons of sweet.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who revealed this in a statement on Sunday, said the drug, of 225mg specification, were intercepted in collaboration with stakeholder.
Babafemi said the other stakeholders, including the Nigeria Customs Service, on March 31, 2023 conducted a joint examination of two containers marked: TRHU 4758549 and TRHU 6936803, the Tramadol 225mg were discovered in 720 cartons.
In the same vein, officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations have intercepted at a courier firm a cargo of 1.5kg cocaine concealed in a carton declared to contain hair cream, shampoo, hair rollers and burners going to London, UK.
In Kaduna, operatives on March 27 raided Dan Wata village, Soba LGA, where they arrested one Abdurrashid Musa, 33, with 142.8kg cannabis, while the principal suspect, Ibro Danwata, is still at large.
Another suspect, Shamsu Abdullahi (aka Waja), 35, was also arrested the following day during a follow up operation at Rigasa Kaduna, after he had abandoned 80,000 tablets of Diazepam weighing 13.4kg and escaped arrest earlier.
No less than 63 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 600kg stored in a house at Okpe village in Akoko-Edo LGA of Edo Statewere recovered on March 31 when operatives raided the area, while a raid of a warehouse owned by one Shehi Mallam at tomatoes market, Dei Dei, Abuja same day led to the seizure of 80 sacks of cannabis sativa weighing 842.4 kilograms.
In Cross River State, 12,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg were seized from a female passenger, Talatu Sale Adamu, 46, when NDLEA officers intercepted the commercial bus she was travelling in along Ogoja/Katsina-Ala Road on March 27.
While a suspect, Abraham Alaigwu, was arrested at Slaughter, Trans/Amadi area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State with 91.7kg of cannabis on March 30, 228kg of same substance was seized from Ayodele Osuya, 35, in a Toyota Camry car around Quarter Guard area of Akure, Ondo State.