Oluchi Chibuzor
A 51-year-old man, Usman Hassan Ramadan, carrying a 3.5 kg of powdery form of Tramadol tablets has been intercepted at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, on his way to Dubai.
The officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at airport, Makia special command, Kano, made the arrest as the man who claimed to be an ex-soldier from Borno approached screening point.
In a statement made available to THISDAY by the Public Affairs, Jonah Achema, it revealed that the new method was a new trend adopted to traffick illicit substances.
The statement said Ramadan was arrested at the outbound screening point on his way to board Ethiopian Airline to Dubai. It also said he had stuffed his luggage with black and white polythene bags containing a powdery substance which upon inspection by officers and men of NDLEA turned out to be grounded Tramadol tablets.
According to the statement: “Initially, the suspect claimed he was carrying elubo a local yam flour but later confessed that he had to grind the tramadol tablets in order to deceive security operatives.
“He claimed to have sustained injuries during the civil war and that he needed Tramadol at all tries to relieve him of the pain,” the statement stated.
Also speaking, the NDLEA Makia Commander, Mohammed Ajiya, said the case of powdery Tramadol was strange to the Command.
“We have made seizures of Tramadol severally but that it now comes in powdery form calls for extra vigilance. It means drug merchants are never short of ideas. No matter what, we will continue to beat them to their antics.”
