The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted a tramadol shipment from India disguised as multi-vitamins in 114 cartons arriving on Ethiopian Airlines flight on Monday, September 8, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

In a statement signed on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, identified the importer as Indian businessman Gupta Ravi Kumar and three Nigerian accomplices, Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode, and Bakare Korede Muheeb.

 

According to the statement, the tramadol shipment is worth three billion nine hundred and ninety million naira in street value, imported from Delhi, and it arrived at the import shed of the Lagos airport.

The statement reads, “An Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar and three Nigerian accomplices: Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode and Bakare Korede Muheeb have been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in connection with the seizure of Two Million Two Hundred and Forty-Eight Thousand (2,248,000) pills of tramadol 200mg/225mg intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

“The tramadol shipment worth Three Billion Nine Hundred and Ninety Million Naira (N3,990,000,000) in street value was imported from Delhi, India, disguised as multi-vitamins in 114 cartons and arrived at the import shed of the Lagos airport on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Monday, 8th September 2025.”

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The statement further revealed that the consignment had earlier been put under surveillance by the agency before swooping on the clearing agent and two drivers who were attempting to move the shipment out of the airport in two trucks on Thursday.

NDLEA carried out a subsequent operation, which led to the arrest of the Indian businessman, who was waiting to take the delivery of the shipment.

“A team of NDLEA officers who had put the consignment under surveillance, however, swooped on a clearing agent and two drivers who were trying to move the shipment out of the airport in two trucks on Thursday, 11th September.

“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,” the statement concluded.

TVC previously reported that the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested three members of an international organised criminal group operating between Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia and the United Arab Emirates in connection with a N5.3 billion worth of cocaine confined in textile materials bound for Sydney, Australia at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State.

This major success was disclosed in a statement signed on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, stating that the intelligence on the drug syndicates began on Tuesday, 26th August 2025, following the uncovering of 76 cartons of textile materials going to Sydney by officers of NDLEA at the export shed of the Lagos airport.

https://www.tvcnews.tv/ndlea-bust-drug-cartel-recovers-n5-3b-australia-bound-cocaine/