NDLEA Arrests Five Impersonators In Edo, Intercepts N7.5m Tramadol Pills, Others

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA said on Sunday said its operatives have arrested five persons dressed in the agency’s operational jackets.

The suspects were arrested with fabricated gun and pistol carved from wood following intelligence that they were impersonating as officers of the agency and conducting illegal operations.

The suspects include: Sebastine Asekiamhe, 22; Raymond Otaru, 28; Emmanuel Wisdom, 23; Solomon Edogamhe, 27; and Bonaventure Oghibui, 22.

While some others in NDLEA jackets escaped, a bottle of codeine-based syrup was found with those arrested.

In the same development, the agency also intercepted millions of tramadol 225mg pills, thousands of codeine syrup bottles and bags of Canadian Loud in consignments arriving the country ahead of the Christmas celebration.

Speaking on the development, Femi Babafemi spokesman of the agency, said: “Desperate attempts by transnational criminal organisations to flood Nigerian communities with large quantities of assorted illicit drugs during the yuletide season have been thwarted.

“At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos, all tricks employed by the drug syndicates to smuggle into the country seven million five hundred thousand (7,500,000) pills of tramadol 225mg through the NAHCO import shed of the airport were frustrated by NDLEA officers with the cooperation of men of the Nigeria Customs and other stakeholders”.

“The consignment which was taken into custody on Friday 22nd December came onboard Turkish airline with no country of manufacture or origin.

“Apart from being the first time such shipment would be seized on the airline’s flight, it was equally the first of such coming from Hamburg, Germany.

“The 7.5million tramadol 225mg pills were also specially designed and packaged as tamol-x concealed in 100 big cartons weighing 7,150kg, which arrived the country on 11th December and placed under surveillance until last Friday.

“Preliminary test of the tablets proved positive to tramadol hydrochloride,” Babafemi added.