The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized a massive haul of drugs valued at over N7 billion during a series of operations across Nigeria.
NDLEA’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said at the Apapa seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives, in collaboration with Customs and other security agencies, intercepted 162,351 bottles of codeine-based syrup from two containers on Tuesday, 15th October.
Meanwhile, at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State, a watch-listed container from India was found to contain 7.2 million pills of Royal 225mg Tapentadol and Carisoprodol, worth N3.6 billion. Additionally, 780 cartons of chlorphenamine, containing 15.6 million opioid pills, were also recovered from the same container.
Further seizures from two more watch-listed containers at Onne port on 15th and 17th October revealed 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup, valued at N2.36 billion.
According to Babafemi, these discoveries bring the total street value of the intercepted drugs — Tapentadol, Carisoprodol, and codeine — at the two seaports to a staggering N7.1 billion.
In Bauchi State, He said a 33-year-old suspect, Sunday Jonathan Ogenyi, was arrested along the Bauchi-Jos road with 76,600 tramadol pills hidden in false compartments of his vehicle. Meanwhile, in Ondo State, NDLEA operatives arrested three suspects — Goddey Obizuo, Samuel Aniete, and Kuffrey Aniete — in Afo village, where 672kg of cannabis sativa was seized.
He added that a separate raid in the Illushi forest, Esan South East LGA of Edo State, led to the destruction of over 10,590kg of cannabis cultivated on 4.2 hectares of farmland, saying that two suspects, Benson Upuoni, 65, and Sunday Nwaeboyi, 35, were arrested during the operation.
In Lagos, on 15th October, NDLEA officers arrested Andrew Joseph Anoriode with 3kg of methamphetamine and 1.9kg of cannabis along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, while 241kg of cannabis was also recovered in the Gbaji, Badagry area.
On the same day, a suspected methamphetamine manufacturer, Agbeiboh Oscar, was arrested in Abule Osun with 265 grams of meth and chemicals used for production.
NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the agency’s operatives for their successful operations and their balanced approach to drug supply and demand reduction across the country.