PICTORIAL: NDLEA Intercepts N2.2bn Codeine Bottles At Lagos Port

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Friday, August 23, 2024 intercepted two containers which came from Mundra Port in India.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in statement on Sunday said no fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319, 200 bottles of the opioid worth N2,234,400,000.00 in street value were recovered from the containers during a joint examination with other port stakeholders.

Also, an Onitsha, Anambra State based-businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, has excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after 12 days of excretion observation following his arrest at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos by operatives of the NDLEA.

The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday August 8, 2024 at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja at about 10am same day.

The suspect who came under NDLEA surveillance following intelligence had arrived Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State the previous day, August 7th and lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30am flight the following morning.

He was thereafter intercepted by NDLEA operatives who moved him into excretion observation where he spent the next 12 days excreting the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilograms.

Another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha had been arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on Monday August 12, 2024 during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.

After four days under observation, Mbadugha egested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.

In the same vein, another Onitsha based businessman, Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob has been arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20kg cannabis concealed in a package going to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency had intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport while investigations revealed the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha.

After series of follow up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday August 17th.

Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit of NDLEA have arrested five cross-border female drug traffickers at the Seme Border while on their way back to Lagos from Ghana.

Leader of the syndicate, a 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara has been under NDLEA radar before being tracked and arrested on Wednesday August 21, 2024 along with other members of her gang including Abogun Fatimah Ladidi; Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun; Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.

At the point of their arrest at the Seme border, a total of 14 packs of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 6.97kg, were recovered from hidden parts of their bodies.

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