By Olukayode Idowu
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have 25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol and 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.
A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi said the seizures were made on Tuesday 17th and Friday 20th September 2024 from three containers which had been on the watchlist of the agency following processed intelligence.
He added that as a result of the intelligence, the NDLEA had requested for 100% joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies. The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value N13,725,000,000 while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of N2,450,000,000 bringing the total value of the seizures to N14,950,000,000.
He disclosed that the tapentadol consignment packed in 500 cartons was discovered in one of the containers last Tuesday while another container examined 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 last Friday.
Meanwhile, operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the agency last Friday arrested an 80-year-old grandfather, Pa Aremu Shojobi with 14 kilogrammes of cannabis at his home in Iyana Ipaja area of the state.
Babafemi said the Octogenarian in his statement, claimed he has been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years, and that he gets his supplies from Benin republic, and sells to his customers from his residence between 7am and 10pm every day.
NDLEA operatives in Lagos last Wednesday raided the two homes of a community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, where a total of 226 kilogrammes of cannabis was recovered from his two wives and son.
Babafemi said 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 57.6 kilogrammes 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 168.6 kilogrammes from his second wife Hauwa Bashir, 42.
He added that no less than 720 blocks of Arizona, a strain of cannabis weighing 390 kilogrammes were also recovered from a Mitsubishi delivery van marked MUS 720 XH at Ojo area of Lagos last Monday.
The spokesman said at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, NDLEA operatives on Sunday 15th September arrested a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi while attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach.
He said after three days in excretion observation, Okafor excreted the 76 pellets of the ingested cocaine weighing 1.267 kilogrammes.
In Kogi state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway last Tuesday 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 last Friday 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.
A total of 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213 kilogrammes 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, 46, at Agingi- Rukuba road Bassa LGA in possession of 808 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertilizer, their counterparts in Kwara also nabbed Shaibu Musa with 28 kilogrammes of the same psychoactive substance.
Babafemi said 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.
Meanwhile, 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. 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.