Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, alongside three Nigerian accomplices—Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode, and Bakare Korede Muheeb—in connection with the seizure of 2,248,000 tramadol pills.
The consignment, valued at N3.99 billion, was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, after being imported from Delhi, India.
The shipment arrived at the airport’s import shed on Monday, September 8, 2025, aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight, disguised as multi-vitamins packed in 114 cartons. NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said officers had placed the consignment under surveillance and intercepted a clearing agent and two drivers attempting to move the shipment out of the airport in two trucks on Thursday, September 11. A follow-up operation the next day led to the arrest of Gupta Ravi Kumar as he tried to take delivery of the consignment.
In a separate operation at the Terminal 2 departure gate of MMIA on Sunday, September 7, NDLEA operatives intercepted a passenger, Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi, traveling to Doha on a Qatar Airline flight. A search of his bag recovered 900 grams of skunk cannabis concealed in crayfish. Onyeganochi, a first-time traveler, said the bag was handed to him by a Qatar-based Nigerian, Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, who was later arrested at the airport. Subsequent searches of Uchenna’s hotel room in Ajao Estate uncovered an additional 200 grams of the same substance. Uchenna claimed he intended to retrieve the bag on a later trip if Onyeganochi had successfully evaded security checks.
Meanwhile, in Abuja, NDLEA operatives arrested a dispatch rider, Godsplan Vincent, 29, during a stop-and-search operation in Utako on Thursday, September 11. He was found with 50.7 grams of cocaine and 66 grams of Loud, intended for distribution.
The series of operations underscores the NDLEA’s continued efforts to curb the trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs across Nigeria’s airports and urban centres.
