NDLEA nabs businessman trafficking 5.3kg tramadol to Cameroun in mannequins
The Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) has arrested a 37-year-old businessman, Ani Onyebuchi Romans, whereas trafficking 5.3 kilograms of tramadol hid in full-body mannequins to Cameroun.
The company disclosed this in an announcement by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, on Sunday, eleventh January 2026.
The arrest highlights rising cross-border opioid trafficking and the inventive strategies used to evade regulation enforcement.
NDLEA defined that Romans was intercepted on Oron-Ibaka highway, Oron Native Authorities Space, Akwa Ibom State, whereas coming back from the Christmas and New Yr holidays.
“The suspect claims he resides in Cameroun and was reportedly returning to his base after the Christmas and New Yr holidays when he was apprehended. It was revealed that he purchased the medication in Onitsha, Anambra state and was trafficking them to Cameroun to promote, utilizing two mannequins to hide the opioids,” the company said.
The company emphasised that the operation displays its intensified surveillance and intelligence-led interventions towards the illicit drug provide.
In one other operation, barely three years after serving a two-year jail sentence for drug trafficking, 80-year-old Jeremiah Isaiah Nkanta was apprehended once more by NDLEA operatives for returning to the illicit drug commerce.
Nkanta returned to the illicit drug commerce and, following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, tenth January 2025, tracked the Octogenarian ex-convict to his Mmanta – Abak village, Abak native authorities space of Akwa Ibom state, the place he was arrested with 5.7 kilograms of skunk, a pressure of hashish, in his residence.
NDLEA operatives carried out raids throughout Ibadan, Oyo State, resulting in a number of arrests and drug recoveries.
Amongst these apprehended was 45-year-old Remi Bamidele, also referred to as ‘Aluko the Mafia,’ arrested with a complete of 10.696 kilograms of varied hashish strains together with Colorado, Scottish Loud, Ghana Loud, Canadian Loud, and skunk. Two autos have been additionally recovered on the scene.
Different suspects included Adeola Toheeb, 27, arrested with hashish at Adegbayi, and Habeeb Ali, 29, nabbed at Ring Street with 1.264kg of hashish and N1,307,100 in money.
Nigeria’s Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company has sustained a sequence of excessive‑influence anti‑narcotics operations in recent times as traffickers step up efforts to maneuver massive portions of opioids and different illicit substances throughout the nation.
NDLEA’s nationwide information exhibits that between January 2021 and March 2025, the company arrested over 62,000 drug suspects and destroyed greater than 10 million kilograms of varied illicit substances.
In December 2025, the company reported seizing greater than 7.6 million tramadol capsules and over 76,000 kilograms of hashish in coordinated raids concentrating on city markets, highways and hidden storage websites in a number of states.
The company dismantled a trans‑border drug trafficking community, arresting 4 suspects and seizing practically 191,000 tramadol capsules hid in autos heading from Onitsha to Yola, with the consignment traced to an Onitsha‑based mostly seller.
The company’s enforcement attain additionally extends to worldwide collaboration. In one of many largest recorded drug interdictions at Tincan Island Port, Lagos, NDLEA started a joint investigation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the UK Nationwide Crime Company after the interception of 1,000 kilograms of cocaine. The cargo, initially found by PTML terminal operators in an unmarked container, is valued at over $235 million on the worldwide market