The Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) has intercepted a large drug haul comprising over 3.5 million drugs of opioids and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, with an estimated avenue worth of N3.4 billion, throughout separate operations in Lagos and Port Harcourt.
In a press release launched on Sunday, the company’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed that the majority of the seizures occurred on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, throughout a joint inspection of a watch-listed container on the Port Harcourt Ports Complicated, Onne, Rivers State.
In line with Babafemi, NDLEA operatives, working in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and different safety businesses, uncovered two million drugs of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup contained in the container.
“In Lagos, a complete of 1,500,000 drugs of a managed opioid have been recovered from a suspect Olarenwaju Wahab on the Alaba-Rago space of Ojo on Tuesday twenty ninth April whereas the supply of the consignment was traced to Q104B Street 25, Victoria Backyard Metropolis, Lekki, which is the residence of 1 Obinna Kenneth who’s now at massive,” he stated.
In line with him, NDLEA operatives on the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a robust pressure of hashish weighing 20kg.
The medicine have been hid in tins of chocolate, Milo beverage, white kidney beans, and darkish pink kidney beans, and had been packaged as a part of cargo arriving on the airport aboard a British Airways flight from Canada.
“A minimum of three suspects, together with the receiver of the consignment, Monsurat Ewawunmi Lawson, have been arrested between Wednesday, thirtieth April and Saturday, third Might,” he defined.
Babafemi additionally revealed that on Friday, Might 2, businessman Bobby Morris Osas was arrested on the Lagos airport whereas trying to board a Turkish Airways flight to Italy.
“A radical search of his baggage led to the seizure of 8,130 drugs of tramadol in 225mg, 200mg, and 100mg dosages.”
“In one other operation, NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and Normal Investigation (DOGI) thwarted an try by a syndicate to ship 104 grams of tramadol and skunk hid in bottles of physique cream to Iraq. This operation occurred on Monday, April 28, at a courier firm in Lagos,” he stated.
The company’s operations prolonged to Kaduna as properly. On Might 3, operatives intercepted a business automobile alongside the Kaduna-Zaria expressway.
“A search of the automobile led to the invention of a complete of 9 Hundred and Forty-Two (942) explosives hid in a sack. The driving force, Nura Sani Muhammad, 30, was arrested,” Babafemi added.
In separate operations, 5 members of a syndicate have been arrested in Kano with 50 blocks of skunk (21.6kg).
In Niger State, a truck was intercepted with 5,500 capsules of tramadol and a couple of,300 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
After 10 months of investigation, NDLEA operatives lastly arrested Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, a 52-year-old wished drug kingpin and MD of Ovidaq Worldwide Ltd, in reference to a 2024 tramadol cargo intercepted at Apapa Port. A raid on his Lekki residence led to the seizure of 51 wraps of Canadian Loud.
In the meantime, NDLEA’s Warfare In opposition to Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization continued with lectures in faculties throughout Kano and Katsina states.
Chairman Brigadier Normal Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) recommended all operatives concerned in these profitable operations throughout a number of states and praised the company’s steadiness between provide discount and drug demand discount efforts.
