Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a staggering consignment of opioids at the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers State.
Over 13.2 million pills of dangerous opioids, including Tramadol, Tramaking, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, were seized during a meticulous 100% joint examination of three containers arriving from India on October 2nd and 3rd.
NDLEA‘s spokesman, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said alongside these pills, authorities recovered 338,253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, with the total street value of the seizure estimated at a jaw-dropping ₦9.02 billion.
This high-stakes operation, conducted in collaboration with Nigerian Customs and other port stakeholders, marks a critical victory in the war against drug smuggling, as these deadly substances were destined for the Nigerian black market, where they could wreak untold havoc on communities.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Thursday 3rd October intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg.
The consignment was packed in 20 parcels each in five jumbo bags concealed in a container with four units of imported vehicles that came from Canada.
Though the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu but based on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives were able to trace it to a warehouse in Ikorodu where the illicit consignments were discovered in one of the imported vehicles, a Toyota Sienna bus.
A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim has already been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.
In Taraba, NDLEA officers on Thursday 3rd October intercepted a commercial bus marked JAL 198 YQ coming from Onitsha, Anambra state to Jalingo. Large quantities of opioids: tramadol, rohypnol and codeine-based syrup concealed in body compartments of the vehicle were recovered when it was searched, while two suspects: Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor were arrested.
Another suspect, Chibuzor Okafor was arrested at Wukari on Wednesday 2nd October with 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38kg hidden in bags of garri.
In Lagos, a suspect Bolanle Ajenifuja was on Friday 4th October arrested at Afo – Media area of Ojo where 700 litres of skuchies, a mixture of local chapman and cocktail of illicit drugs were recovered from her, while three suspects: Ezekiel Akpele; Elijah Michael; and Goddard John, were nabbed same day when NDLEA operatives raided two cannabis farms located at bridge camp, a boundary community between Edo and Ondo states.
Not less than 9,966.332kg of the substance was destroyed on over three hectares of farmland with 48kg of the already processed psychoactive substance recovered.
