Indian Businessman, 3 Others Arrested Over N3.9bn Tramadol Intercepted At Lagos Airport

 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 2,248,000 pills of tra­madol 200mg/225mg intercept­ed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.

The tramadol shipment worth N3,990,000,000 in street value was imported from Delhi, India, disguised as multi-vita­mins in 114 cartons and arrived the import shed of the Lagos air­port on an on Ethiopian Airline flight on Monday, September 8, 2025.

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, September 11.

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.

At the terminal 2 departure gate of the airport, NDLEA op­eratives on Sunday, September 7, intercepted a passenger On­yeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi trav­elling on a Qatar Airline flight to Doha. A search of his bag led to the recovery of 900 grammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis con­cealed in crayfish. As a first-time traveler, Onyeganochi claimed the bag was given to him to help take to Doha by a Qatar-based Nigerian, Ohadiegwu Anthony Uchenna, who actually followed him to the airport.

His confession led to the ar­rest of Uchenna, who was still within view. Operatives who later conducted a search of Uchenna’s hotel room in Ajao Estate discovered additional 200 grammes of the same psy­choactive substance. He claimed he was to return to Doha days later and pick the bag from the unsuspecting Onyeganochi if he had succeeded escaping se­curity checks.