The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a total of 31,124,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N17,932,200,000 in street value at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state and Tincan seaport in Lagos.
Its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, ina statement issued sunday said 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 per cent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies.
He 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 Thursday 29th and Friday 30th August 2024. Each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.
Babafemi said: “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 Thursday 29th August.
“The tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg.
“The following day, Friday 30th August, 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 in street value while the combined seizure of tramadol stood at 29, 840,000 pills valued at N8,940,000,000.”
Babafemi added that NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers state on Tuesday 27th August arrested a suspect, Eze Emekan 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.
He revealed that 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.
TheHintsNews reports that 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 Wednesday 24th January following credible intelligence she deals in illicit substances.