The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted 31,124,600 pills of Tramadol, 225mg and bottles of codeine-based syrup with over N17,932,200,000 in street value at the Port Harcourt Complex, Onne, Rivers State and Tincan Seaport in Lagos.
The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy , Femi Babafemi who disclosed this in a press release explained that the seizures were made following intelligence processed by the Agency on the movement of the shipments from their port origin in India, leading to a demand for a 100 percent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies.
According to him, a breakdown of the seizures show that 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tincan port in Lagos on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th August 2024 and each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.
“At the Pet Harcourt Port Complex , One, NDLEA operatives equally intercepted a total of 447 cartons of Tramadol, 225mg containing 29,840,000 pills of the opioids as well as 380,000bottles of codeine syrup from three containers on Thursday 29th August.The tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg”
“The following day, Friday 30th August, another set of three containers watch-listed by NDLEA were subjected to joint examination.At the end of the exercise, a total of 3,030 cartons of codeine syrup containing 554,600 bottles of the opioid were recovered from them.This brings the total bottles of codeine seized at One , Rivers and Tincan in Lagos to 1,284,600 bottles worth N8,992,200,000 in street value while the combined seizure of tramadol stood at 29,840,000 pills valued at N8,940,000,000”
“In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State on Tuesday 27th August arrested a suspect, Eze Emeka Don , while attempting to board a Cronos airline flight to Malabo , Equatorial Guinea with 1,490 pills of tramadol concealed and packaged as cosmetics of different brands inside his luggage.His attempt to compromise the officers to evade arrest was rebuffed ”
“Meanwhile, a wanted ex-beauty queen,Ms Aderinoye, Queen Christmas , also known as Ms. Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye has surrendered to the Lagos Command of the Agency after about about eight months in hiding.She was declared wanted by the agency in January after she escaped from her Lekki, Lagos residence when NDLEA operatives raided her apartment at Oral Estate, Lekki on Wednesday 24th January following credible intelligence that she deals in illicit substances.The suspect was Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and founder of Queen Christmas Foundation”
” Recovered from her home during the search witnessed by the Estate officials include 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drugs packing plastics, a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, and her picture frame amongst others”
“The suspect who claimed she has been hiding in Akure , Ondo State since January when she escaped arrest in Lekki Lagos however surrendered to the Agency on Wednesday 28th August.No less than 1,122 kilograms of cannabis were seized from a suspect, Mustapha Ibrahim when he was arrested on Monday 26th August along Orchid road, Ajah Lagos, while 816kg of the same psychoactive substance belonging to a suspect at large was recovered from the same location same day”
“In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on Monday 26th August arrested a suspect, Friday Gabriel along Minna Suleja road while conveying 1,900 capsules of tramadol, 300 bottles of codeine syrup and 600 packets of exol-5 tables.Similarly, operatives in Bauchi State on Saturday 31st August arrested two suspects: Garba Muhammed, 35 and Usman Yakubu Shehu, 31, along Bauchi-Gombe road while transporting 308 blocks of cannabis weighing 246.4kg concealed in false compartment of a J5 bus marked Edo State URM 38 ZY”
“In the same vein, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include WADA enlightenment lecture to members of Amankwu community, Ohafia LGA, Abia State , WADA advocacy visit to the Vice Chancellor, University of Delta, Prof. Stella Chiemeka , Agbor , Delta State, WADA sensitization lecture to members of Down Luggere community, Jimeta , Yola North LGA, Adamawa State, Youth at the ‘ Save the Children Campaign’ annual holiday camp at Community Secondary School, Aka Offot, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, youths during their summer class at Olubadan stadium, Iyaganku , Ibadan, Oyo State and WADA advocacy visit to Central Bank, Kaduna Office, Kaduna State”
” In his response to the latest seizures and arrest, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended all the officers and men of PHC , Tincan and the Special Operations Unit of the Agency that had been working on the targeted containers for their vigilance and professionalism.He equally praised the support received from other stakeholders at the ports that enabled the seamless and successful Operations in the course of targeting the shipments. He also applauded operatives in Lagos, Niger, Bauchi and PHIA as well as other Commands across the country for their diligence and balance in their drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction efforts” he wrote.
