The National Dug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), yesterday, said it had seized five consignments of the deadly psychotropic substance, Tramadol, illegally imported into the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Commander of the NDLEA at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command, Mr. Garba Ahmadu, who briefed journalists in Lagos on Wednesday said the seizure was made at the cargo terminal of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL) through collaboration with foreign intelligence institutions who provided the tip that the consignment was heading towards the Lagos international cargo terminal.
Ahmadu said in 2017, NDLEA seized drugs with a total weight of 1.2 billion kg, while between January and April 2018, the agency seized drugs weighing about 187.22kg valued at over N1 billion.
On the seized tramadol, Ahmadu put the total weight of the seized drugs at 4,423kg explaining that the consignments contained tramadol of 120 milligramme and 225 milligramme, which had exceeded the national minimum of 100 milligramme.
Ahmadu listed South African Airways, Ethiopian Airways, and Emirates as three of the leading airlines which drug traffickers from Nigeria utilise to perpetrate their crime.
He explained the preference of the Lagos airport by drug barons to the fact that aside being Nigeria’s prime airport, it also has the greatest number of international flights with connecting flights to so many other airports in the world where couriers could dispose of their drugs.