Operatives of the Nigeria Drugs Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recently seized drugs put at over N7 billion at the seaports.
Seven Million and Two Hundred Thousand (7,200,000) pills of Royal 225mg Tapentadol and Carisoprodol worth Three Billion Six Hundred Million Naira (N3,600,000,000) in street value was seized at Onne port.
Also, 780 cartons of chlorphenamine containing Fifteen Million Six Hundred Thousand (15,600,000) pills of the opioid, were recovered from two other watch-listed containers equally searched at the port in Onne and a total of 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth Two Billion Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine Million Naira (N2,359,000,000) were recovered from them on Tuesday 15th and Thursday 17th October. This brings the total value of the seized Tapentadol, Carisoprodol and Codeine consignments at the two seaports to Seven Billion Ninety-Five Million Four Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand Naira (N7,095,457,000).
The seizure was made from a watch-listed containers from India at Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state on Tuesday 15th October.
These were contained in a statement by the Agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi on NDLEA website.
According to the statement, “at the seaports, a total of 162,351 bottles of codeine based syrup were intercepted from two containers at the Apapa seaport in Lagos by NDLEA operatives during a joint examination of two containers with men of the Customs Service and other security agencies on Tuesday 15th October. And no fewer than Seven Million and Two Hundred Thousand (7,200,000) pills of Royal 225mg Tapentadol and Carisoprodol worth Three Billion Six Hundred Million Naira (N3,600,000,000) in street value were seized from a watch-listed container from India at Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state on Tuesday 15th October.
“In the same container, 780 cartons of chlorphenamine containing Fifteen Million Six Hundred Thousand (15,600,000) pills of the opioid, were also recovered from two other watch-listed containers equally searched at the port in Onne, a total of 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth Two Billion Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine Million Naira (N2,359,000,000) were recovered from them on Tuesday 15th and Thursday 17th October. This brings the total value of the seized Tapentadol, Carisoprodol and Codeine consignments at the two seaports to Seven Billion Ninety-Five Million Four Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand Naira (N7,095,457,000),” Babafemi stated.
He also said that in Bauchi state, a suspect was arrested along Bauchi-Jos road with 76,600 pills of tramadol concealed in false compartments of his Toyota Sienna vehicle marked Enugu JRV 341 ZY, while NDLEA operatives in Ondo state on Tuesday 15th October arrested three suspects at Afo village where 672kg cannabis sativa was seized from them.
“A raid at Illushi forest in Esan South East LGA, Edo state led to the destruction of 10,590.36kg cannabis spread on 4.236144 hectares of farmland.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 15th October arrested a suspect with 3kg methamphetamine and 1.90kg cannabis along Lagos – Ibadan expressway while 241kg of same substance was recovered at Gbaji, Badagry area of the state.
A suspected meth cook was nabbed same Tuesday at Abule Osun with 265grams of methamphetamine and different quantities of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamine and others.
With the same vigour, 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 students and staff of Ansarudeen Senior High School, Saki, Oyo state; Government Secondary School, Hayin Gwarmai, Bebeji LGA, kano; Margaret Ekpo Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River; Agbaju Unuhu Community Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; and WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Lafiagi, Alhaji Muhammad Kawu Kudu, Kwara state, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHPC, Apapa, Lagos, Bauchi, Ondo, and Edo Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.
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