The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted illicit drugs valued at over N3.4 billion and seized 942 explosives in operations conducted across Rivers, Lagos, and Kaduna states, according to a statement released on Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, examined a watch-listed container at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, on April 29. The operation resulted in the recovery of two million pills of tramadol (225mg) and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup.
The statement read, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted no fewer than three million five hundred thousand (3,500,000) pills of opioids and one hundred and sixty-three thousand (163,000) bottles of codeine syrup with combined street value of over three billion, four hundred and twenty-eight million naira (N3,428,000,000.00) in Port Harcourt, Rivers state and Lagos state.”
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives recovered 1.5 million pills of a controlled opioid from a suspect, Olarenwaju Wahab, at the Alaba Rago area of Ojo on April 29. The consignment was traced to Q104B Road 25, Victoria Garden City, Lekki, the residence of Obinna Kenneth, who remains at large.
In Kaduna State, NDLEA operatives conducting a routine patrol along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway on May 3 intercepted a commercial vehicle traveling from Nasarawa to Zamfara. A search of the vehicle revealed 942 explosives concealed in a sack, leading to the arrest of a 30-year-old suspect, Nura Sani Muhammad, also known as Nura Hariji. Babafemi stated, “A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a total of Nine Hundred and Forty-Two (942) explosives concealed in a sack.”
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, NDLEA operatives intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis, hidden in food tins aboard a British Airways flight from Canada.
Three suspects, including the receiver, Monsurat Lawson, were arrested between April 30 and May 3.
