Abuja, Aug. 25, 2024 – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted two containers laden with 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319, 200 bottles of the opioid at the Tin-Can Port in Lagos.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Spokesman, disclosed this in statement on Sunday.
He said the drugs, which were shipped from Mundra Port in India, were worth N2,234,400,000 in street value.
Babafemi said the drugs were recovered from the containers during a joint examination with other port stakeholders at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Friday, 23rd August, 2024.
Another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on Monday Aug. 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 egested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
In the same vein, another Onitsha based businessman, Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20kg cannabis concealed in a package going to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency had intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport while investigations revealed the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha.
After series of follow up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday Aug. 17th.
Operatives of a Special Operations Unit of NDLEA also arrested five cross-border female drug traffickers at the Seme Border while on their way back to Lagos from Ghana.
The leader of the syndicate, a 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara has been under NDLEA radar before being tracked and arrested on Wed., August 21, 2024 along with other members of her gang including Abogun Fatimah Ladidi; Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun; Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.
At the point of their arrest at the Seme border, a total of 14 packs of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 6.97kg, were recovered from hidden parts of their bodies.
The also NDLEA said a suspect, Godwill Davidson, was arrested in Lagos on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup; 5,200 pills of Co-Codamol; and 11, 880 tablets of Rohypnol in Mushin area of the state, while another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23, was nabbed by operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway, Kogi State same day with 42,000 pills of tramadol coming from Asaba, Delta State enroute Potiskum, Yobe State.
“In the same vein, 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 pupils of Dan Amus Sangaya school, Sabon Layi, Gombi, Adamawa state; workers of transport companies in Garki Enugu, Enugu state; students and staff of Kaduna State School of Nursing, Kaduna, and WADA advocacy visit to the management of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Ogun State,” he said. (GBN)
