Six thousand, one hundred and twenty five (6,125) cartons of codeine syrup containing 1.05 million bottles of the opioid worth over N7.35 billion in street value, were on Saturday, June 29, intercepted by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers State.
This was confirmed in a statement by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, June 30.
The seizure, made from six containers, was the third of such in the past four weeks, following credible intelligence and diligent tracking of the consignments from their port of departure.
The tracking was reportedly done by a special operations unit of the NDLEA, in partnership with the Port Harcourt Ports Command of the agency and other security agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, for a 100 percent joint examination of the targeted containers.
“At the end of the joint examination of the six containers, a total of 6,125 cartons containing 1,050,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 157,500 kilogrammes were recovered on Saturday,” Babafemi said.
In another operation, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos, on Friday, June 21, arrested two passengers travelling to Doha on a Qatar Airways flight at the screening point of terminal 2 after they tested positive to ingestion of illicit substances.
The suspects – Aikhomoun Daniel (alias Oladapo Olanrewaju) and Ayegoro Waheed Omobolaji, were thereafter taken into observatory custody.
While Daniel excreted a total of 90 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.022kg in six excretions, Ayegoro discharged 60 wraps of the same Class A substance, with a total weight of 662 grammes in five excretions.
Further investigation revealed that Aikhomoun Daniel actually stole the identity of his late uncle who was once based in Germany, a decision he claimed he took to get Schengen visa to enable him free access to Europe, while his real name is Oladapo Olanrewaju.
No less than 40.32kg of Loud, an imported strong strain of cannabis was on Friday, June 28, recovered in a black Toyota Tacoma truck along Lekki-Ikoyi road when the driver jumped off the vehicle after noticing that NDLEA operatives were on his trail.
In Abuja, NDLEA operatives in the night of Friday, June 28, disrupted a drug party dubbed ‘Go hard or Go Home. Pick Your Poison,’ and arrested 60 suspects comprising 25 males and 35 females at an apartment in Sun City estate in the Federal Capital Territory.
The raid followed credible intelligence about the drug party organized by one Stanley Ikechukwu who was arrested at the venue.
At least six of the suspects – Victoria Adoga, Hamza Yari, Joanne Essein Joy, Socchima Valentine, Jago Imole and Charles Ndubuisi, were arrested with different quantities of ecstasy and cannabis.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) has directed that 20 of the suspects who tested negative to drug be released unconditionally, while 33 others who tested positive to illicit drugs were to be released on bail and would report at the FCT Command of the agency on Monday, July 1, to begin treatment and counselling.
No fewer than four suspects – Endurance Okon, 24; Joseph Michael, 23; Ovoco Bright, 43; and Goday Abanum, 23, – were arrested in the deep forest of Ugun, Igueben Local Government Area, Edo State on Saturday, June 29, when NDLEA operatives raided and destroyed 18,632.22 kilogrammes of cannabis on 7.452888 hectares of farmland.
In the same vein, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued sensitisation activities in their war against drug abuse, known as WADA, to schools, worship centres, work places and communities, among others in the past week.
These include WADA enlightenment lecture for students and staff of First Technical University, Ibadan, Oyo State; students of Government Day Secondary School, Yola, Adamawa; students and teachers of Ezeike High School, Nibo, Anambra; members of Mount Zion Anglican Church, Igoba, Akure, Ondo State and WADA advocacy visit to the palace of Oba of Yoruba in Kano, Dr. Murtala Alimi Otisese.
Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Port Harcourt Ports, Lagos and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, the NDLEA Chairman/CEO warned drug cartels that no matter the ingenuity of their modes of trafficking, the dedicated workforce of the Agency, in collaboration with other stakeholders and partners would always be steps ahead to expose them and thwart their tricks.
He enjoined the officers and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the agency.
