By Peter Omopo | September 14, 2025
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, and three Nigerian accomplices following the interception of a consignment of 2,248,000 tramadol pills worth an estimated N3.99 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
According to a statement on Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the shipment—concealed as multivitamins in 114 cartons—arrived from Delhi, India, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on September 8.
Babafemi said operatives kept the cargo under surveillance before intercepting a clearing agent and two drivers attempting to move the goods in trucks on September 11. A follow-up operation led to Kumar’s arrest the next day when he came to take delivery.
The seizure formed part of a series of nationwide operations within the past week.
At the same Lagos airport on September 7, NDLEA officers stopped passenger Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi en route to Doha on Qatar Airways with 900 grams of skunk concealed in crayfish. His accomplice, Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, was arrested at the airport, and a raid on his Ajao Estate hotel room uncovered an additional 200 grams of cannabis.
On September 9, a joint examination at Tincan Port, Lagos, uncovered 81.7kg of Canadian Loud and 1.2kg of hashish oil hidden in a container of spare parts from Montreal, Canada. Two suspects, John Ochigbo (53) and Okeke Kingsley (26), were arrested.
Two days later, officers intercepted a Toyota Sienna on Third Mainland Bridge carrying 65kg of Canadian Loud, arresting driver Abubakar Ibrahim (42).
Other seizures included methamphetamine disguised in a picture frame bound for Gabon, Loud hidden in video players heading to the UAE, and the discovery of a factory in Ikorodu producing skuchies (a cannabis–blackcurrant drink), where 6,029 bottles and 4,232kg of cannabis were recovered.
Similar operations across the country yielded arrests and seizures:
- Abuja: Dispatch rider Godsplan Vincent (29) caught with cocaine and Loud.
- Oyo State: Three women arrested with 17kg of skunk.
- Kano: 100,000 tramadol pills seized from Musa Shuaibu (38).
- Anambra: A couple, Nzube and Ebele Onyedika, held with meth and skunk.
- Yobe: Mohammed Auwal arrested with 22.1kg of cannabis.
- Ogun: Three traffickers nabbed with 394kg of skunk in Imeko.
- Edo: NDLEA destroyed over 16,966kg of cannabis on a large plantation in Ovia South West LGA and seized an additional 1,176kg from the farm, arresting four suspects.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the operatives for their resilience and urged them to sustain the momentum in the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
