A consignment of Tramadol headed for Sierra Leone is among a huge drug burst by Nigerian authorities over the weekend.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of Nigeria said on Sunday it thwarted an attempt to smuggle into the country 98 cartons containing 5,122,900 pills of Tramadol 225mg, with an estimated street value of about N3.7 billion (over US$4.6million).
At least one suspect, said to be a Nigerian national, was detained in connection to the incident, a statement issued by the Director of Media and Advocacy of the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, said, adding that the suspect was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
“Preliminary findings revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, while some of the seized consignments had Freetown, Sierra Leone as final destination,” said Babafemi.
The arrest was credited to an interagency collaboration between the Nigeria Customs Service and the anti-drug agency deployed at the airport and the cargo warehouse of the international courier agency, DHL.
Tramadol is an opioid pain medication used to treat moderately severe pain. But it is supposed to be available only through prescription.
The drug is among the top substances, alongside ‘Kush,’ a Cannabis based drug, currently subjected to abuse by youths in Sierra Leone.
The country is presently battling a crisis of drug abuse, which has been blamed for an epidemic of mental health issues among the youths.
