NDLEA Intercepts 31 Million Pills, Bottles Of Opioids Worth N17.9bn At Lagos, Port Harcourt Ports (Photos)

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced that its agents have seized 31,124,600 pills of tramadol (225mg) and bottles of codeine-based syrup, with a street value exceeding N17,932,200,000.00. The interception occurred at the Port Harcourt Port Complex in Onne, Rivers State, and the Tincan Seaport in Lagos.

NDLEA reported that the seizures were made following intelligence processed by the Agency on the movement of the shipments from their port of origin in India, leading to a request for a 100 percent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies.

This was announced by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, on Sunday.

Babafemi disclosed that a breakdown of the seizures shows that 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tincan Port in Lagos on Thursday, 29th August, and Friday, 30th August 2024. Each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.

He also stated that NDLEA operatives intercepted a total of 447 cartons of tramadol (225mg) containing 29,840,000 pills of the opioid, as well as 380,000 bottles of codeine syrup from three containers on Thursday, 29th August, at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne.

Babafemi further stated that the tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapentadol, Carisoprodol (225mg), and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride (225mg).

According to the statement, another set of three containers watch-listed by NDLEA were subjected to joint examination on Friday, 30th August, resulting in the recovery of 3,030 cartons of codeine syrup containing 554,600 bottles of the opioid.

Babafemi said the discovery brings the total bottles of codeine seized at Onne, Rivers State, and Tincan in Lagos to 1,284,600 bottles, worth N8,992,200,000.00 in street value, while the combined seizure of tramadol stood at 29,840,000 pills valued at N8,940,000,000.00.

In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State, on Tuesday, 27th August, arrested a suspect, Eze Emekan 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 bribe 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 eight months in hiding. She was declared wanted by the agency in January after escaping 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.

NDLEA announced that the suspect was Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation.

“Recovered from her home during the search, witnessed by estate officials, were 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drug packaging plastics, a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, and her picture frame, among other items.

“The suspect, who claimed she had been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, since January when she escaped arrest in Lekki, Lagos, surrendered to the Agency on Wednesday, 28th August,” Babafemi said.

“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 on the 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 tablets. 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 a false compartment of a J5 bus marked Edo State URM 38 ZY,” he added.

In response to the latest seizures and arrests, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended all the officers and men of PHPC, Tincan, and the Special Operations Unit of the Agency that had been working on the targeted containers for their vigilance and professionalism.

Marwa also praised the support received from other stakeholders at the ports that enabled the seamless and successful operations during the targeting of the shipments. He further 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.