The Nigerian suspects were identified as Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode, and Bakare Korede Muheeb.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, alongside three Nigerian accomplices, following the interception of a massive consignment of 2,248,000 pills of tramadol smuggled into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The Nigerian suspects were identified as Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode, and Bakare Korede Muheeb.
According to the NDLEA, the illicit shipment, worth an estimated ₦3.99 billion in street value, was imported from Delhi, India, aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight. The traffickers disguised the opioids as multi-vitamins and packed them in 114 cartons before the consignment arrived at the Lagos airport import shed on Monday, September 8, 2025.
In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said operatives, acting on intelligence, had placed the consignment under surveillance until Thursday, September 11, when officers swooped on a clearing agent and two drivers attempting to move the drugs out of the airport in two trucks.
“A follow-up operation the following day, Friday, led to the arrest of the Indian businessman Gupta Ravi Kumar, when he was trying to take delivery of the consignment,” Babafemi stated.
In a separate operation, NDLEA said its operatives arrested Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi on Sunday, September 7, at the departure gate of Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport.
Ifeanyi, who was booked on a Qatar Airways flight to Doha, was found with 900 grams of cannabis (skunk) concealed in crayfish.
The suspect, described as a first-time traveller, claimed the bag was handed to him by Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, a Qatar-based Nigerian who was also present at the airport.
Uchenna was immediately arrested, and a search of his hotel room in Ajao Estate uncovered an additional 200 grams of cannabis, which he admitted he intended to retrieve in Doha once Ifeanyi had cleared security.
The NDLEA also reported a breakthrough at the Tincan Port in Lagos, where a joint operation uncovered 161 parcels of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 81.7kg, along with 1.2kg of hashish oil. The drugs were concealed in a 40-foot container of vehicle spare parts and used cars imported from Montreal, Canada.
Two suspects, John Ochigbo (53) and Okeke Kingsley (26), were arrested during the examination on Tuesday, September 9.
In another follow-up operation, NDLEA operatives tracked 65kg of Canadian Loud smuggled from the port to the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. The consignment, hidden inside a Toyota Sienna, was intercepted on Thursday, September 11, leading to the arrest of the driver, Abubakar Ibrahim, 42.
The agency also intercepted two shipments at courier companies in Lagos the same week. On Monday, September 8, officers recovered six grams of methamphetamine concealed in a picture frame bound for Gabon.
On Thursday, September 11, another parcel containing 1.1kg of Canadian Loud hidden inside video decoders was seized before it could be shipped to the United Arab Emirates.
The NDLEA confirmed that the suspects are in custody and would face prosecution.
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