NDLEA seizes 1.7m opioids hidden in noodles

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), in Ikeja, Lagos, as well as in the state of Gombe, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has discovered 1,760,460 pills of tramadol and other opioids concealed in boxes of Indomie noodles and other items.

In a statement released on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said that in addition to 5,960 pills of Rohypnol hidden in 60 packs of Indomie noodles bound for Johannesburg, South Africa being seized at the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport on Monday, December 12th and Tuesday, December 13th, and over 600,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg coming from Karachi, Pakistan in two separate shipments on Ethiopian Airlines flights being intercepted by its

He revealed that a female freight agent named Olaleye Adeola had already been detained in relation to the shipment of noodles.

In a similar incident, Akunne Chibuzor Tochukwu, a merchant at Balogun Market on Lagos Island, was detained on Tuesday, December 13, in partnership with Zone 2 Police Headquarters, Lagos, for attempting to export a Tramadol shipment to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, according to Babafemi.

“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.

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

“In Gombe state, a total of 1,154,500 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 Dec. at Bye pass area of Gombe by a team of NDLEA officers following credible intelligence,” he said.

Additionally acting on intelligence, he continued, agents in Edo State on Friday, December 16th, stopped a Honda Ridgeline pickup truck with the license plate BWR 699 CV that was hauling 29 bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing a combined 319kg.

According to Babafemi, the driver of the car, Alfred Vratombo, 32, was detained while wearing a fake police uniform that he was using to fool security personnel on the road.

Chucks Kalu, 29, tried to smuggle 26 kg of cannabis into Kano hidden inside blender packs, but his attempt was foiled by agents who stopped the shipment along the Abuja-Kaduna express road and later detained him in a follow-up operation in Kano. Rabilu Sa'ad Abubakar, 42, was also detained in a follow-up operation in Kano after he shipped 1,980 bottles of cough syrup with codeine, hidden inside cartoons,

“In Bauchi State, operatives on Saturday 17th Dec. arrested Muhammed Ahmed, 40, with 288 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 244.5Kg in the Darazo area of the state, while in Delta state, NDLEA officers stormed the home of a drug kingpin, Okrika Kingsley Ozioma, at Usiefurum town, Ughelli South LGA, where an underground drug bunk was uncovered in a three-bedroom bungalow building owned by the suspect who is now on the run. 17.6kgs of C/S were recovered from the bunk in addition to a 2003 Silver Golf car with registration number Lagos KJA 572 AZ used for the distribution of drugs within and outside Warri.

“In Oyo state, a suspect, Yusuf Ayinde, 40, was arrested with 50.4kgs Cannabis in his residence at Idi-Ose via Amuloko, Ona-Ara LGA, on Saturday 17th Dec.,”

Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, praised the officers and soldiers of the MMIA, Lagos, Gombe, Edo, Delta, Kaduna, and Oyo state commands for their dedication and vigilance that resulted in the arrests and seizures of the previous week while urging them and their compatriots in other formations to continue breaking records.

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