NDLEA seizes 558,900 tramadol hidden in custom truck compartment in Lagos
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA
Abdullateef Fowewe
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the interception in Lagos of a truck carrying 558,900 pills of 250mg tramadol that had been trafficked from Togo via the Benin Republic, a seizure that far exceeds Nigeria’s medical limit for the drug.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said the illicit consignment was concealed in a specially fabricated iron compartment beneath the truck’s belly, a method allegedly designed to evade border checks.
Officers acting on credible intelligence stopped the vehicle as it entered Lagos and uncovered the concealed drugs.
“100mg tramadol is the maximum allowed for medical use in Nigeria and it’s highly controlled.
“Yet the truck travelled from Togo through Benin Republic with 558,900 pills of 250mg tramadol buried under the special compartment specifically fabricated with thick iron sheets on the belly of the truck to smuggle the illicit consignment through several borders and security checks. Eventually, all that effort came to nothing because @ndlea_nigeria officers acting on credible intelligence intercepted the merchants of death as they entered Lagos and uncovered what they thought no one can discover,” Babafemi wrote.
He noted that the confiscated pills will undergo forensic testing and the agency will proceed with investigations to trace the supply chain and those responsible for the smuggling.
