- Ex-beauty queen surrenders to NDLEA after eights months in hiding
Operatives of 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 at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State and Tin Can Seaport in Lagos.
The seizures were made following a report on the movement of the shipments from India.
He said this led to a demand for a joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies.
In a statement, the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, said: “A breakdown of the seizures show that 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tin Can Port in Lagos on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th August 2024. Each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.
“On August 29, at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, NDLEA operatives also seized 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.
“The tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg.
Read Also: Africa’s oil giants: Top 10 countries with largest oil reserves in 2024
“The following day, Friday 30th August, another set of three containers 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 Tin Can 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.’’
“In the same vein, 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. His attempt to compromise the officers to evade arrest was rebuffed,” the statement reads.
Also, Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture, Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas, who was declared wanted eight months ago for dealing in drugs, has surrendered to the Lagos Command of the NDLEA.