The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted 31,124,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N17,932,200,000 in street value at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne in Rivers State and Tincan seaport in Lagos State.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, September 1, 2024.

Babafemi noted that the seizures were made following intelligence processed by the anti-drug agency on the movement of the shipments from their port of origin in India, leading to a demand for a 100 per cent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other security agencies.

Babafemi said 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tincan port in Lagos on Thursday, August 29, and Friday, August 30.

He disclosed that each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.

At the Port Harcourt Port Complex in Onne, Babafemi stated that NDLEA operatives intercepted a total of 447 cartons of tramadol 225mg containing 29,840,000 pills of the opioid as well as 380,000 bottles of codeine syrup from three containers on Thursday, August 29.

The NDLEA spokesman said the tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg, and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg.

NDLEA intercepts N2.2bn drugs, arrests 2 women for online drug sale

He noted that on Friday, August 30, another set of three containers watch-listed by NDLEA were subjected to joint examination.

Babafemi said at the end of the exercise, 3,030 cartons of codeine syrup containing 554,600 bottles of the opioid were recovered.

“This brings the total bottles of codeine seized at Onne, Rivers and Tincan in Lagos to 1,284,600 bottles worth N8,992,200,000 in street value while the combined seizure of tramadol stood at 29, 840,000 pills valued at N8,940,000,000,” Babafemi stated.

He added that the NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State, on Tuesday, August 27, arrested a suspect, Eze Emekan Don, while attempting to board a Cronos airline flight to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea with 1,490 pills of tramadol concealed and packaged as cosmetics of different brands inside his luggage.

The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency said the suspect’s attempt to compromise the anti-narcotic officers to evade arrest was rebuffed.

The Star