Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N1.1 billion naira in street value.
The spokesman for the agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday said the shipment was intercepted during a joint examination of a watch-listed container with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
The statement read in part, “At the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers state, NDLEA operatives on Friday 13th June intercepted a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N1.1 billion naira in street value, during a joint examination of a watch-listed container with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
“The opioid consignments were hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares.
The NDLEA also said three suspects were arrested when its operatives raided a warehouse in Obereakai, in the Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State, where a total of 2,687kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, was recovered.
Similarly, NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence on the same day in Bauchi state, arrested the duo of “Iriemi Imonikhe, 49, and Sa’idu Ladan, 30,” along Bauchi -Jos Road after 195 blocks of skunk weighing 287kg were discovered in their Toyota Camry car marked AKL 201 GG.
The statement added, “While 14 jumbo sacks of skunk weighing 560kg were recovered from a wooden boat at Oniru beach in Lagos by operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA on Thursday, June 12, officers of the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport, Maiduguri, same day arrested two businessmen: Ishaku Abdullahi, 30; and Buba Usman, 32, at the arrival hall of the domestic wing of the airport with various quantities of ecstasy pills and skunk packaged in fanciful wraps labelled as ‘Lychee’ and ‘Porro Legal’.
“Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos in the early hours of Saturday, June 14 intercepted an Italy-bound passenger Edobor Ambrose Ali on an Air France flight.”
The agency also said its officers, in collaboration with the aviation security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), discovered drug consignments hidden in the luggage of the suspect during baggage scanning on the tarmac.
“The suspect was thereafter brought down from the aircraft for baggage identification after which a thorough search of the bag led to the discovery of 14,410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg concealed in winter jackets.
In his statement, Ebodor said he lives in Italy where he was hired and sent on the all-expense paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy for a fee of 2000 Euros,” the statement read.
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