NDLEA intercepts 3 trailer loads of opioids, 3.5m pills, 344,000 codeine bottles

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says its operatives have intercepted three trailer loads of opioids comprising three million four hundred and fifty thousand, 3,450,000 pills and three hundred and forty-four thousand, 344,000, bottles of codeine syrup at Abule Ado in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos state.

The agency revealed that the multi-billion naira consignments were loaded into two 40-ft container trucks and another 20-ft truck at the AML bonded terminal, Abule-Osun, near the International Trade Fair complex before heading to a large warehouse at Abule-Ado where NDLEA officers eventually arrested the suspects and recovered the opioid consignments on Thursday 9th May 2024.

NDLEA said three suspects were also arrested in connection with the seizure.

Those arrested include the warehouse agent, Cosmas Obiajulu, 51; Ridwan Balogun, 25, and Banjo Tayo, 30, both drivers of two of the trucks and a third driver who jumped off to escape arrest.

This was made known in a statement by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, on Sunday.

Babafemi also announced that the NDLEA operatives on Tuesday arrested a suspect, Nwankwo Ejike in the Coker area of Lagos, where 100 litres of codeine syrup were recovered from him while 60 litres of the same substance were seized from Clinton Akinye in the same area same day.

He also said not less than 37.5kg of cannabis sativa loaded in a Toyota Camry car was recovered from another suspect, Adegbola Segun, 47, when the car was intercepted at Mile 12 area of Lagos on Monday.

The spokesman also announced that another consignment of opioids consisting of 59,106 pills of tramadol and different quantities of codeine syrup and Rohypnol being taken across the border to Garua, Cameroon was intercepted by NDLEA officers on Monday 6th May along Mubi-Yola road, Adamawa state.

According to him, two suspects linked to the drugs: Abubakar Auwal, 39, and Adamu Abubakar, 25, (a.k.a Bamanga), a trans-border trafficker who was to take the consignment from Mubi across to Cameroon, were promptly arrested.

“In Edo state, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 11th May raided the Iguiye forest in Ovia North East LGA, where a total of 11, 636.185kg cannabis was destroyed on three farms measuring 4.654474 hectares, while an additional 188kg of the same psychoactive substance was recovered and a suspect, Itah Nyong was arrested during the overnight operation.

“A 75-year-old grandpa, Jibril Audu was on Friday 10th May arrested with 7.5 kilograms of cannabis at Oke-asa village, Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti state during a raid operation, while a 70-year-old grandma, Tikwase Nytor was nabbed with 15.6kg of same substance on Thursday 9th May during a raid operation at Achusa and International Market road, Makurdi, Benue state,” Babafemi added.

Reacting to the development, the Chairman of NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the efforts of the Lagos, Edo, Ekiti, Benue and Adamawa Commands of the Agency for jobs well done in the past week.

Marwa assured that officers and men of the agency will continue to work with local and international partners to ensure that the scourge of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking is brought to the barest minimum in Nigeria.