The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has disclosed that it arrested an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, alongside three accomplices, Ogunlana Olanrewaju, Olushola Kayode and Bakare Muheeb, in connection with over N3.9bn worth of tramadol intercepted at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos State, in its nationwide crackdown on illicit drugs.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
According to Babfemi, the illicit drugs were imported from India under the guise of multivitamins before operatives of the NDLEA, who had been monitoring the consignment, swooped in on a clearing agent and two drivers who were attempting to move the shipment out of the airport in two trucks on Thursday, September 11.
He stated, “The tramadol shipment worth N3,990,000,000 in street value was imported from Delhi, India, disguised as multivitamins in 114 cartons, and arrived at the import shed of the Lagos airport on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Monday, 8 September 2025.”
Following the interception, Babafemi noted that a follow-up operation on Friday led to the arrest of Gupta while trying to take delivery of the consignment.
Babafemi noted that, on September 7, at the Terminal 2 departure gate of the same airport, NDLEA operatives intercepted one Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi, who was a first-time traveller en route to Doha on Qatar Airways, and a search of his bag revealed 900 grams of skunk (a cannabis strain) hidden in crayfish.
Ifeanyi was said to have implicated a Qatar-based Nigerian, Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, who had accompanied him to the airport, and was arrested on site.
He added that a subsequent search of Uchenna’s hotel room in Ajao Estate uncovered an additional 200 grams of the substance. Uchenna confessed to planning to retrieve the bag in Doha if Ifeanyi had evaded detection.
In another operation, the NDLEA officers at the Tincan Port in Lagos recovered 81.7 kilograms of Canadian Loud (another cannabis variant) and 1.2 kilograms of hashish oil from a 40-foot container of vehicle spare parts imported from Montreal, Canada, during a joint examination on September 9.
“Two suspects, John Ochigbo, 53, and Okeke Kingsley, 26, were detained,” Babafemi added
Separately, on September 11, officers tracked and intercepted a 65-kilogram shipment of Canadian Loud on Third Mainland Bridge, arresting driver Abubakar Ibrahim, 42, in a Toyota Sienna vehicle.
The statement continued, “Another shipment of Canadian Loud with a total weight of 65kg was tracked from the port to Third Mainland Bridge, where NDLEA operatives intercepted a Toyota Sienna vehicle conveying the consignment, recovered it, and arrested the driver, Abubakar Ibrahim, 42, on Thursday, September 11.
“Two separate shipments of methamphetamine concealed in a picture frame and Loud hidden in video players were seized at two courier companies in Lagos on Monday, September 8, and Thursday, September 11, respectively, by the NDLEA operatives. While six grams of meth recovered from the picture frame were meant for delivery in Gabon, 1.1 kg of Loud in the decoder machines was heading to the United Arab Emirates.
“In the Ikorodu area of Lagos, the NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence on Thursday, September 11, raided a factory producing skuchies, a blend of cannabis and black currant drink. No less than 6,029 bottles of the new psychoactive substance and 4,232 kg of cannabis were recovered from the factory located in Caritas, Ibeshe area of Ikorodu, while the factory manager, Joy Awosika, was arrested. Another suspect, Akeem Oriola, was in the Mushin area of Lagos with 26 kg of skunk.”
He added that a dispatch rider in Abuja, Godsplan Vincent, 29, was arrested on September 11 with 50.7 grams of cocaine and 66 grams of Loud during a stop-and-search in Utako, while operatives in Oyo State arrested three women, Faidat Azeez, 25; Alanu Fatimoh, 40; and Mojeed Taiwo, 25, in Oyo town with 17 kilograms of skunk.
Similarly, in Kano, 100,000 tramadol pills were seized from Musa Shuaibu, 38, on September 8 along the Zaria-Kano road, 196 litres of Akuskura (a new psychoactive substance) from Abubakar Adamu, 35, and 34.1 kilograms of skunk plus other items from Basiru Umar, 18, on September 11.
The statement added that Anambra State saw the arrest of a couple, Nzube Onyedika, 41, and Ebele Onyedika, 42, in Obosi with 13.9 kilograms of methamphetamine and 5.3 kilograms of skunk. Another suspect, Nnamchi Tochukwu, 36, was detained with various quantities of meth, tramadol, swinol, heroin, and skunk.
The agency added, “In Yobe, a suspect, Mohammed Auwal, was arrested after 36 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 22.1 kg were recovered from his residence in the Gadan Talakawa area of Potiskum, while three trans-border drug traffickers, Kunyadi Kunle Ogbungbun, 24; Olalekan Adewale, 20; and Sanya Joshua, 22, were nabbed with 394 kg of skunk in the Imeko area of Ogun State during a joint operation by the NDLEA operatives with the police and local vigilantes on Sunday, September 7. Three motorcycles used in conveying the illicit consignment were also recovered.
“In Edo State, a total of 16,966.633 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on a cannabis plantation measuring 6.786653 hectares at Ugbogyi Forest, Ovia South West LGA, while 112 bags of processed cannabis weighing 1,176 kilograms were also recovered at the farm, where four suspects, Ebenezer Ewang, Oshore John, Emmanuel Monday, and David Sunday, were arrested.”
The arrest of foreign nationals for suspected drug peddling in Nigeria and other criminal offences has continued to rise, raising concerns for its implications on the image of the country.
In October 2024, a Federal High Court in Lagos convicted and sentenced a 41-year-old Canadian lady, Adrienne Munju, to 11 years imprisonment for importing 35.20 kilogrammes of Canadian Loud (Cannabis Sativa) into Nigeria.
Justice Dehinde Dipeolu, who handed down the verdict, also gave her an option of N100m fine on the two counts preferred against her by the NDLEA.
While some of these foreigners are being prosecuted and jailed, experts believe that stricter punishment would deter others.
PUNCH.
