The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said it intercepted additional 241 million tablets of tramadol at Apapa Sea Port, Lagos.
This brings to 581 million tablets of tramadol so far seized within two days of the search operations at the port, from the 340 million tablets found in 12 containers on Wednesday.
Tramadol, a psychotropic drug and opiate derivative was recently banned by the Federal Government.
A spokesman of the NDLEA, Jonah Achema, said on Friday in Abuja in a statement that the search of the suspected 62 containers continued Thursday after 11 new containers already searched were found to contain 241 million tablets of tramadol, weighing 118 metric tons.
“On the first day of the search operations, the Agency discovered 340 million tablets of tramadol from 12 containers. The tablets which are in various dosages ranging from 120 to 250 milligrams are above the permissible threshold of 50 and 100 milligrams. The suspected containers, all originating from India have been on the watch-list of NDLEA since November 2017 and have just been positioned for search by Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
“Out of 28 containers already positioned for search, 23 of the containers have been found to contain illicit Tramadol. Today (yesterday) November 16, 2018, no search of the containers has taken place. It is expected that the search will continue on Monday. There are 39 more containers to be searched which the Agency strongly suspects to contain illicit tramadol,” Achema said.
He said the Agency some times in 2017 intercepted 160 million tablets of tramadol at the Apapa Port which ranged from 220 to 250 milligrams imported from India using false documents in the name of an unregistered company.
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