The Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted opioids worth N13billion at the Tincan port complex, Lagos State.
A statement issued on Sunday by the Agency’s Director of media and publicity, Femi Babafemi explained that up to 250 million pills of tapentadol- an opioid three times stronger than tramadol and 350 thousand codeine based syrup were seized.
NDLEA explained that the seizures were made on Tuesday, 17th, and Friday, 20th September 2024, from three containers that had been under the agency’s watch following processed intelligence.
According to the statement, NDLEA had requested a 100% joint examination of the shipments in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
The statement reads, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted a total of Twenty-Five Million (25,000,000.00) pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol and Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand (350,000) bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.”
“The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of Thirteen Billion Seven Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N13,725,000,000.00) while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of Two Billion Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N2,450,000,000.00), bringing the total value of the seizures to Sixteen Billion One Hundred and Seventy Five Million Naira (N16,175,000,000.00).”
Also, the agency’s operatives in Lagos reported the arrest of an 80-year-old man, Pa Aremu Shojobi, on Friday, 20th September, at his home in the Iyana Ipaja area with 14 kilograms of cannabis. Shojobi allegedly admitted to being involved in the business for about 25 years.
NDLEA also announced the arrest a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, while attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach. After three days of observation, Okafor excreted 76 cocaine pellets, weighing 1.267kg.
NDLEA officers seized 700,000 Exol-5 pills along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on 17th September, bound for Kano and Kaduna. On 20th September, Udemefuna Chibuike, 23, was arrested on the Mokwa-Jebba road with 49,000 tramadol tablets, diazepam, tramadol injections, and codeine syrup.
In Port Harcourt, 451 blocks of cannabis (213kg) were seized on 18th September, and Ogochukwu Paul, 33, was arrested. On 20th September, Jonathan Ali Abuttur, 46, was caught in Plateau State with 808kg of cannabis hidden in sugar and fertilizer bags. In Kwara, Shaibu Musa was arrested with 28kg of cannabis.
