The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled a trans-border drug trafficking network, arresting four suspected members and seizing 190,960 tramadol pills in a coordinated operation.
According to a statement on Sunday, February 16, 2025, by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the operation followed weeks of intelligence gathering and surveillance by the agency’s Directorate of Intelligence.
The crackdown uncovered tramadol pills worth millions of naira, hidden in the bumpers and false compartments of Sienna buses transporting the drugs to border towns.
The agency intercepted a Sienna bus bearing registration number ABJ 452 HG on the Nasarawa-Toto road in Keffi, Nasarawa State, at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, January 27, 2025.
Two suspects, Zahradeen Adamu, 27, and Abubakar Usman, 44, were apprehended in the vehicle, which had departed from Onitsha, Anambra State, and was en route to Yola, Adamawa State. A second Sienna bus, driven by 48-year-old Abba Usman, was also stopped.
A thorough search of both vehicles revealed that tramadol pills had been cleverly concealed inside specially constructed steel compartments behind the rear bumper and within the spare tyre storage area.
Investigations identified Onitsha-based drug dealer Kingsley Mbaeri as the supplier of the intercepted tramadol consignment.
Acting on this intelligence, NDLEA operatives raided his residence on Uga Street, Onitsha, on January 29, leading to his arrest. Two vehicles—a Toyota Corolla (FGG 948 MF) and a Toyota Sienna (GWA 23 HH)—were also confiscated from his home.
Babafemi also disclosed details of another major seizure on February 4, when NDLEA operatives stopped a commercial bus from Onitsha at the Abaji checkpoint in Abuja.
“A passenger in the bus, 32-year-old Chimezie Henry Ojingwa, who was carrying motor spare parts in a black bag, was arrested,” he said.
“Upon searching his bag, officers recovered 404.47 grams of methamphetamine, 506.49 grams of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, and 262.32 grams of dimethyl sulfone, a precursor substance used for mixing meth. The drugs were carefully concealed within the motor parts.”
Other key seizures include 170,000 tramadol pills intercepted from a truck on the Ogoja-Abakaliki road on February 13, 85,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup seized from an imported container at Apapa port on February 11, two suspects caught in Borno with 60 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 72 kg on February 14, and three suspects arrested in Ikole-Ekiti with 83 kg of skunk on February 11.
Also, Samiat Olabisi Yussuf, 28, was found in possession of 169.5 litres of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and 111 grams of Loud on February 15.
Additionally, Ibrahim Usman, 40, and Solomon James, 40, were caught with 132.84 kg of Arizona and Ghana Loud.
Meanwhile, NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative is intensifying awareness campaigns across schools, workplaces, and religious centres nationwide.
The NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers involved in the latest operations and urged them to ramp up efforts in the ongoing battle against drug trafficking in Nigeria.
