NDLEA intercepts drugs concealed in shoe soles at Lagos airport

A total of 2,118 pills of tramadol concealed in soles of 13 pairs of shoes going to Cyprus were intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos on 12th October 2024.

This was revealed in a statement by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi.

According to Babafemi, an additional 380 tablets recovered from the home of the sender, Okenwa Kelvin Uchenna during a follow up operation in Enugu on Thursday 24th October.

A cash of N968,880 and a Toyota Avalon car marked UWN 389 AS, were also recovered from the suspect at the time of his arrest.

The spokesperson disclosed that not less than 293 ampoules of promethazine and pentazocine injection as well as 1.690kg cannabis and tramadol tablets concealed in hair attachments and soles of shoes going to the United States, United Kingdom and Oman were intercepted at three courier firms by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, in Lagos on Thursday 24th October.

Also, 26,250,000 pills of tramadol as well as 508,400 bottles of codeine based syrup worth N16, 683, 800,000, in street value were intercepted by NDLEA operatives.

The interception occurred during joint examination of watch-listed containers with men of Customs Service and other security agencies at the Tincan port in Lagos and Port Harcourt port, Onne, Rivers state between Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October.

Other illicit consignments intercepted during the joint inspection of the containers include 10 million tablets of Toradol Benzhexol and 28 plastic drums of methamphetamine weighing 700kg at Tincan and Onne respectively, while 56 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 28kg were also recovered from a container that arrived the Lagos port from Canada.

A suspect, Tsolaye Eburajolo, 40, was arrested at Ago Palace area of Okota Lagos in connection with the cannabis seizure while a bribe of N10 million paid NDLEA officers to free the suspect has been kept as part of the exhibits for the prosecution of the case.