Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said officers found a shipment of tramadol powder weighing 8,725 kilograms gross at Lagos’ Apapa port, with an estimated street value above ₦6.98 billion.
The cargo came from India and was declared as maize starch, the NDLEA said. Officers uncovered it during an inspection with the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies on Oct. 2. A test at the agency’s forensic laboratory identified the powder as tramadol hydrochloride. Officers separated the cargo from its concealment on Oct. 14; it comprised 349 bags.
The NDLEA said it stopped Fatimah Ahmad at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on Oct. 16 during clearance for an Ethiopian Airlines trip through Addis Ababa to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A palm-oil gallon she carried contained 511.75 grams of cannabis. Ahmad told officers that her cousin, Abubakar Yahaya, had given her the gallon; officers arrested Yahaya at the airport car park, according to the NDLEA.
In Edo State, the agency said six people were arrested during raids on Oct. 15 and 16. They included Grace Ehimeka, 85, in Warake, from whom officers seized 179 kilograms of skunk. In Ondo State, officers destroyed 7,500 kilograms of skunk cultivated across three hectares and arrested five people on Oct. 17, the agency said.
The NDLEA also reported seizing 55 kilograms of “Canadian Loud” from a Toyota Sienna in a 40-foot container at Lagos’ Tin Can port on Oct. 12. It valued that seizure at ₦165 million. In Bauchi State, the agency said officers recovered at least 894,800 tramadol capsules and Exol-5 tablets, without providing a separate count for each product.
