Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted a consignment of tramadol pills concealed in winter jackets by an Italy-bound passenger at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The suspect, identified as Edobor Ambrose Ali, was apprehended in the early hours of Saturday while attempting to board an Air France flight to Milan, Italy.
A statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the NDLEA officers, working in coordination with the Aviation Security Unit of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria flagged his luggage during a routine scanning exercise at the tarmac.
He said a subsequent search of the bag revealed a total of 14,410 pills of tramadol (225mg and 200mg doses) stashed inside the linings of multiple winter jackets.
Babafemi said the controlled opioid, banned in several countries due to its high potential for abuse, has a high street value and is often trafficked for recreational use.
He said Edobor confessed that he was hired in Italy for the drug courier mission and had been sent on an all-expense-paid trip to Nigeria to pick up the drugs, adding that he was promised €2,000 upon successful delivery of the illicit cargo to Milan.
“The NDLEA operatives at the MMIA, Ikeja Lagos in the early hours of Saturday, June 14, intercepted an Italy-bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, on an Air France flight. The NDLEA officers in collaboration with the Aviation Security of the FAAN, discovered drug consignments hidden in the luggage of the suspect during baggage scanning at the tarmac.
“The suspect was thereafter brought down from the aircraft for baggage identification after which a thorough search of the bag led to the discovery of 14, 410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg concealed in winter jackets. In his statement, Ebodor said he lives in Italy where he was hired and sent on the all-expense paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy for a fee of 2000 Euros, “ the statement partly read.
Babafemi said a week earlier, on June 7 NDLEA officers at the Port Harcourt International Airport arrested 44-year-old Ezemokwe Christian, who had ingested 53 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.172kg in an attempt to smuggle them to Tehran, Iran.
He said the arrest came barely two weeks after a similar interception at the Kano airport involving a 60-year-old man with 65 cocaine pellets in his stomach.
Babafemi said, “Barely two weeks after operatives of the NDLEA at the MAKIA Kano, intercepted a 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Leonard Okigbo heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach, their counterparts at the PHIA have arrested another businessman, 44-year-old Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian for ingesting 53 wraps of the same class A drug while on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday, June 7 while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Khomeini in Iran via Doha.
“After a body scan proved positive to ingestion of illicit drug, he was placed on excretion observation during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172kg. The suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran.”
In another major operation, Babafemi said operatives at the Onne Port in Rivers State on Friday, June 13, intercepted a container shipment hiding 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup—an opioid drug with an estimated street value of over N1.1bn.
He added that the syrups were cleverly hidden behind cartons of ceramic sanitary wares.
He said operations conducted across Cross River, Bauchi, and Lagos states led to multiple seizures including over 2.6 tonnes of skunk (a potent strain of cannabis), with arrests made in connection to various trafficking and storage operations.
