By IBIRONKE ARIYO

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted Kano-bound tramadol shipments in Lagos in ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo, through Benin Republic into Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi on Sunday in Abuja.

Babafemi said that the effort yielded the success with the interception of two long trailers used to move 1,630,000 pills of tramadol 250mg.

He said that the drugs were concealed in fabricated compartments of the trucks across multiple borders into Lagos.

He also said that the intelligence-led interdiction operation came barely a week after NDLEA operatives recovered 558,900 pills of the same psychoactive substance.

This, he said, was from the false bottom compartment of a truck that came into Lagos through the Togo-Benin Republic route.

“One of the two trucks already heading to Kano was tracked and located on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

“This was where NDLEA officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the trailer and arrested the 22-year-old driver.

“Two days later, July 4. NDLEA operatives acting on processed intelligence successfully tracked and recovered the second trailer from the Lagos-Ibadan expressway while heading to Kano.

“A total of 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the truck were evacuated and the 22-year-old driver was also arrested.

“Investigations revealed that all three trucks and consignments intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4 belong to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis,” he said.

Meanwhile, the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week.

Babafemi names them as WADA sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of Government Day Junior Secondary School, Bakori, Katsina; Colliery Technical School, Ngwo, Enugu; Starlight College, Iganmu Ijora, Lagos.

Similar lectures also delivered at Community Secondary School, Kono, Rivers; Odoro High School, Ikole Ekiti; and Government Junior Secondary School, Gabasawa, Kano, among others. (NAN)