NDLEA operatives raid Lagos warehouse, recover drugs worth N4.8b

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it recovered illicit drugs worth N4.8 billion after carrying out a raid in a warehouse at the International Trade Fair Complex, Alaba, Ojo area of Lagos on Saturday.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, made these known in a statement in Abuja.

According to the statement, items recovered from the warehouse owned by an alleged wanted billionaire drug baron, included 1.4 million pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 826kgs and 3.2 million pills of codeine with gross weight of 3,360kgs.

Also recovered are 2,841 cartons of codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles.

According to Babafemi, the street value of the substances was about N4,820,500,000.

He said during the operation that lasted hours, a suspect, Paulinus Ojukwu, who is the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the wanted drug baron, and who parades as an automobile spare parts dealer, was arrested and is helping with the ongoing investigation.

The spokesperson also revealed that on Friday operatives of the NDLEA intercepted $20 million suspected to be counterfeit during a stop and search operation along Abaji-Lokoja road, within Abuja.

The suspected fake money was recovered from a bus coming from Lagos to Abuja, while the 53-year-old driver of the vehicle, Onyebuchi Nlededin, was arrested.