The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has seized a total of 31, 124, 600 pills of tramadol 225mg and bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N17.932billion in street value at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State and Tincan seaport in Lagos.
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 demand for a 100 percent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies.
NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday, said: “A breakdown of the seizures show that 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tincan port in Lagos on August 29 and 30, 2024. Each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.
“At the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, NDLEA operatives equally 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 August 29.
“The tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg.
“The following day, August 30, another set of three containers watch-listed by NDLEA were subjected to joint examination. At the end of the exercise, a total of 3,030 cartons of codeine syrup containing 554,600 bottles of the opioid were recovered from them.
“This brings the total bottles of codeine seized at Onne, Rivers 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.
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“In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State on August 27, arrested a suspect, Eze 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 compromise 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 she escaped from her Lekki, Lagos residence when NDLEA operatives raided her apartment at Oral estate, Lekki on January 24, following credible intelligence she deals in illicit substances.
“The suspect was Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and founder of Queen Christmas Foundation.
“Recovered from her home during the search witnessed by the estate officials include 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drugs packing plastics, a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, and her picture frame among others.
“The suspect who claimed she has been hiding in Akure Ondo state since January when she escaped arrest in Lekki Lagos however surrendered to the Agency on August 28.
“No less than 1,122 kilograms of cannabis were seized from a suspect, Mustapha Ibrahim when he was arrested on August 26, along Orchid road, Ajah, Lagos, while 816kg of the same psychoactive substance belonging to a suspect at large was recovered from the same location same day.
“In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on August 26, 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 August 31, 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 false compartment of a J5 bus marked Edo state URM 38 ZY,” the statement added.
