The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it has intercepted a total of 25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol, and 350,000 bottles of a codeine-based syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said the seized tapentadol has an estimated street value of N13,725,000,000 while the codeine consignment is worth N2,450,000,000 bringing the total value of the seizures N16,175,000,000.
Babafemi said the seizures were made on Tuesday 17th and Friday 20th September 2024 from three containers that had been on the watchlist of the Agency following processed intelligence.
He said as a result, the NDLEA had requested for 100 percent joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
“The tapentadol consignment packed in 500 cartons was discovered in one of the containers on Tuesday 17th September while another container examined the same day contained 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine packed in 875 cartons. The third container containing 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine was examined on Friday 20th September,” it stated.
Babafemi also said operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the Agency on Friday 20th September arrested an 80-year-old grandfather, Pa Aremu Shojobi with 14 kilograms of cannabis at his home in the Iyana Ipaja area of the state.
“In his statement, the Octogenarian claimed he has been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years. He further claimed he gets his supplies from Benin Republic and sells to his customers from his residence between 7 am and 10 pm every day,” he said
He added that NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday 18th September raided the two homes of a community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, where a total of 226kg of cannabis was recovered from his two wives and son.
“Though Alhaji Talba is currently at large, a search of his house in Ashipa area of Seme Badagry led to the recovery of 93 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 57.6kg from his first wife, Asma’u Bashiru, 35, and son, Sadat Bashiru, 22, while another search of his house at Aketegbo area of Seme Badagry led to the seizure of 302 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 168.6kg from his second wife Hauwa Bashir, 42.
“No less than 720 blocks of Arizona, a strain of cannabis weighing 390kg were also recovered from a Mitsubishi delivery van marked MUS 720 XH at Ojo area of Lagos on Monday 16th September.
“At the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, NDLEA operatives on Sunday 15th September arrested a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony while attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach. After three days of excretion observation, Okafor excreted 76 pellets of the ingested cocaine weighing 1.267kg.
“In Kogi state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on Tuesday 17th September recovered 700,000 pills of exol-5 coming from Lagos for distribution in Kano and Kaduna, while a suspect Udemefuna Chibuike, 23, was arrested by operatives on Friday 20th September along Mokwa-Jebba road, Niger state, in possession of 49,000 tablets of tramadol, 20,000 tablets of diazepam, 100 ampoules of tramadol injection and 50 bottles of cough syrup with codeine,” the statement reads.
According to the statement, a total of 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213kg were intercepted along Azikiwe road, Port Harcourt, Rivers state on Wednesday 18th September, by NDLEA officers who apprehended a suspect Ogochukwu Paul, 33, conveying the consignment to a notorious drug haven in Borikiri.
“While operatives in Plateau state on Friday 20th September arrested a wanted suspect Jonathan Ali Abuttur, 46, at Agingi- Rukuba road Bassa LGA in possession of 808kg of cannabis sativa concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertilizer, their counterparts in Kwara also nabbed Shaibu Musa with 28kg of the same psychoactive substance.
“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, workplaces, and communities among others in the past week.
“These include WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Rayhaan Model Academy, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state; Government Day Secondary School, Danrimi, Malumfashi LGA, Katsina state; Technical College, Ihe-Achi, Oji River LGA, Enugu state; Corpus Christi College, Ilawe Ekiti, Ekiti state; fresh students of Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology, Eleyele Ibadan, Oyo state; traders at Agboju market, Festac town, Lagos and the palace of Oloola of Ilara, Oba Mutiu Adedimeji Lawal Oyede and his chiefs, at Ilara, Ogun state, among others.
“While commending the officers and men of Tincan, MAKIA, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Kogi, Edo, and Kwara 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,” it stated.