The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted three trailers loaded with 3,450,000 pills and 344,000 bottles of codeine syrup at Abule Ado in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The NDLEA operatives also arrested three suspects in connection with the seizure.

This was disclosed via a statement issued by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, May 12, 2024.

Babafemi noted that the multi-billion naira consignments were loaded into two 40-ft container trucks and another 20-ft truck at the AML bonded terminal, Abule-Osun, near the International Trade Fair complex before heading to a large warehouse at Abule-Ado where the anti-narcotic officers eventually arrested the suspects and recovered the opioid consignments on Thursday, May 9.

He listed the arrested suspects to include the warehouse agent, Cosmas Obiajulu, aged 51; and the drivers of two trucks, 25-year-old Ridwan Balogun and Banjo Tayo, 30.

Babafemi disclosed that the third driver jumped off the trailer to escape arrest.

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Babafemi added that the NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, May 7, arrested a suspect, Nwankwo Ejike, in the Coker area of Lagos where 100 litres of codeine syrup were recovered from him.

The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency said 60 litres of the same substance were seized from another suspect, Clinton Akinye, in the same area the same day.

He stated that 37.5kg of cannabis sativa loaded in a Toyota Camry car was also recovered from another 47-year-old suspect, Adegbola Segun, when the car was intercepted in the Mile 12 area of Lagos on Monday, May 6.

Babafemi revealed that another consignment of opioids consisting of 59,106 pills of tramadol and different quantities of codeine syrup and Rohypnol being taken across the border to Garua in Cameroon was intercepted by NDLEA officers along Mubi-Yola road in Adamawa State on Monday, May 6.

The NDLEA spokesman added that two suspects linked to the drugs – Abubakar Auwal, 39, and Adamu Abubakar, 25, (a.k.a Bamanga), a trans-border trafficker who was to take the consignment from Mubi across to Cameroon – were arrested.

The Star