NDLEA recovers N6.2bn codeine consignment at Onne Port

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted 892,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N6.2 billion in street value.

The NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja that operatives recovered the drugs from five containers.

Babafemi said the operation was carried out by NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers.

This, he said, was during a joint examination of the containers with men of the Nigeria Customs and other port stakeholders on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15.

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“The bottles of the opioids were packed in 5,337 cartons with a gross weight of 133,860kg and shipped in five containers from India,”he said.

In another development, NDLEA operatives supported by men of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies as well as community youths on Aug. 14, raided the Ise forest reserve, Saalaja camp, Ise-Ekiti.

Babafemi said that 21,800kg of cannabis sativa(Indian hemp) on 20 hectares of farm land were destroyed.

“The following day, Aug. 15, NDLEA officers on patrol along Onitsha- Enugu road in Enugu State intercepted a Sienna bus marked SKA-24 AG.

“A total 200.2kg of cannabis (Indian hemp) was recovered and the driver,”he said.

The NDLEA also said that two people were arrested with 145,400 pills of tramadol on Aug. 12 at Gadar Tamburawa, area of Kano State.

Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives in Ogun state on Aug. 13 also arrested seven people when a cannabis plantation on six hectares was raided at Alaka village.

In Abuja, NDLEA officers on patrol along Kwali-Gwagwalada expressway on Aug. 13 intercepted a truck from which 30,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection were recovered.

In the same vein, NDLEA said its operatives in Niger state on Aug. 15 arrested a man in Kontagora town with 28,500 pills of tramadol, concealed in a loudspeaker and their counterparts in Kogi on Aug. 14.

Babafemi said that the NDLEA operatives also nabbed a man with 40,000 pills of the same opioid heading to Kontagora.

Another man, he said was arrested by NDLEA officers at Paparanda, Lokoja with 1,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection. (NAN)