The Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted two containers with no fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319,200 bottles of the opioid worth N2.234bn in street value at the Tin Can seaport in Lagos.
The Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, disclosed that the agency’s operatives at the Tin Can seaport in Lagos, on Friday, intercepted two containers that came from the Mundra port in India with no fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319,200 bottles of the opioid worth N2.234bn in street value during a joint examination with other port stakeholders.
Babafemi also stated that the agency had made several arrests and busts in various locations across Nigeria. For instance, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, an Onitsha, Anambra State-based-businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after 12 days of excretion observation following his arrest at the local wing of the international airport, by operatives of the NDLEA.
It was stated that the 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of August 8, 2024, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The suspect who came under the NDLEA surveillance following intelligence was said to have arrived in Lagos from his base in Onitsha the previous day and lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30 am flight the following morning. He was thereafter intercepted by the NDLEA operatives who moved him into an excretion observation, where he spent the next 12 days excreting the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilograms.
Also, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, 1.20kg cannabis concealed in a package to Dubai was intercepted, and the sender, Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob, was arrested, while at the Mushin area of the state, 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup, 5,200 Co-Codamol pills, and 11,880 Rohypnol tablets were recovered from Godwill Davidson who also was arrested.
In Kano State, the statement revealed that 145,400 tramadol pills were seized, and two suspects arrested, while in Edo State, two ladies were arrested for online sales of illicit drugs. Some 288.8kg of cannabis was recovered from Saturday Edobor while 30 cups of cookies and 17 slices of cake laced with illicit substances were recovered from Odion Uzordinma.
In Oyo State, 267.5 litres of skuchies and 18 grams of Canadian Loud were recovered from Feranmi Bankole and Fredrick Tobiloba.
At the Seme Border, five female drug traffickers were arrested with 14 packs of Loud cannabis weighing 6.97kg.
It further stated that another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23 years old, was nabbed by operatives along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway, Kogi State with 42,000 pills of tramadol coming from Asaba, Delta State en route to Potiskum, Yobe State.
“In Lagos, a suspect, Godwill Davidson, was on Wednesday, August 21, arrested with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup, 5,200 pills of co-Codamol; and 11,880 tablets of Rohypnol in the Mushin area of the state.
“Two ladies were arrested by operatives in Edo State for online sales of illicit drugs. Odion Uzordinma, 21, was arrested in the Ugbowo area of Benin City with 30 cups of cookies and 17 slices of cake, all laced with illicit substances. A raid operation at the Oghada village, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday, August 20, led to the arrest of Saturday Edobor, 50, with 288.8kg of cannabis. While Martha Owotorofa, 26, was nabbed at Kada Plaza, Benin City with quantities of Canadian Loud.
“Two suspects Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were on August 20, 2024, arrested at Pariz Lounge, Adeoyo area in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State following intelligence. Recovered from them were 267.5 liters of skuchies, a mixture of black currant and assorted illicit drugs, and 18 grams of Canadian Loud.
“Operatives of a Special Operations Unit in NDLEA have arrested five cross-border female drug traffickers at the Seme border while on their way back to Lagos from Ghana. Leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara has been under NDLEA radar, before being tracked and arrested on August 21, 2024, along with other members of her gang: Abogun Fatimah Ladidi, Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun, Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat,” the statement concluded.
Last week, PUNCH Metro reported that a Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested by the NDLEA at the Abuja airport on Monday, August 12, 2024, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine. After four days under observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
