Lagos — Customs officials in Nigeria on Tuesday said they had seized banned drugs, including the powerful pain killer tramadol, which is popular with jihadists such as Boko Haram. Nigeria Customs Service spokesman Joseph Attah said four containers of controlled and prohibited pharmaceuticals arrived in Lagos from India. Head of customs at the port Jubrin Musa said the drugs were not certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control as they exceeded required limits. "Tramadol is not under trade prohibition but it is controlled and regulated," he said. "Where you import milligrams over and above the control limit, that is where the law is infringed on." Boko Haram fighters are known to have used tramadol during their quest to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. In December 2017, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime issued a warning about the non-medical use of the synthetic opioid across West Africa and its use by jihadists. Yearly seizures...
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