No fewer than six million pills of opioids namely:
tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg and carisoprodol 225mg as well as 332,000 bottles
of codeine-based cough syrup with a combined street value of Six Billion Five
Hundred and Twenty-Four Million Naira (N6,524,000,000.00) have been intercepted
by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Port
Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers and the Apapa seaport, Lagos.
The seizures at the Apapa and Onne ports followed
intelligence and tracking of new trafficking routes to ship illicit substances
into Nigeria by drug cartels, which necessitated the watch-listing of the
containers for 100 percent examination. The consignments at the Port Harcourt
ports: six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup were
uncovered in two containers on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th May 2025 during a
joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers with men of the Nigeria
Customs and other security agencies. At the Apapa port in Lagos, a total of
170,000 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a watch-listed container by
NDLEA operatives during a similar joint examination exercise on Thursday 22nd
May.
Meanwhile, two British nationals: Mhizha Jordan
Alexander Tatendra and Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon as well as two Nigerians:
Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami have been arrested by NDLEA
operatives for attempting to smuggle into Nigeria 92 bags of Loud, a strong
strain of cannabis weighing 51.10kg through the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.
Alexander was intercepted with the consignment upon
his arrival at the MMIA on a Qatar Airline flight from Doha based on processed
intelligence on Thursday 15th May. He was allowed to pass through the security
control unhindered and closely monitored by NDLEA operatives to the car park,
where the owner of the cargo, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, who is a Nigerian
British, was waiting in an SUV along with his relation Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole
and the driver of the vehicle, Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, to receive the courier.
The NDLEA operatives tracking them however swooped on
them as they attempted to drive out of the airport car park, arresting them
with the drug exhibits in the vehicle. In his statement, Alexander confessed he
was recruited during his vacation weeks ago while he was promised 1,300 British
Pounds after a successful delivery of the consignment in Lagos. The arrowhead
of the syndicate, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, confessed that he arrived in Nigeria
a day earlier from South Africa through Ghana.
A follow-up operation at their apartment in Lekki led
to more discoveries. At the point of his arrest, N93,000 and 17,200 South
African Rand were recovered from him while a search of his Lekki apartment, led
to the seizure of Three Million Eight Hundred and Ten Thousand Five Hundred
Naira (N3,810,500) cash, an Apple laptop, an iPhone 14 Pro Max and four
laughing gas (Nitro Oxide) canisters.
A total of 75,000 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on
30 hectares of cannabis farms
by NDLEA operatives at Esuk-Odot village in Odukpani
LGA, Cross River state where 200kg of same substance was recovered on Wednesday
22nd May, while 1,957.5kg of the same psychoactive plant was destroyed at Ohosu
forest, Ovia South West LGA and Okhuse community forest, Owan West LGA, Edo
State on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th May.
In Nasarawa state, two suspects: Sunday Daniel, 51,
and Abu Peter, 30, were arrested at Keffi by NDLEA operatives on Saturday 24th
May when 4,000 kilograms of skunk were discovered concealed under unprocessed
wood in their lorry, while another suspect, Godwin Obi, 39, was nabbed at Karu
with 154.5kg of same substance on Wednesday 21st May.
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kaduna -
Zaria expressway at Gwargwaje on Wednesday 21st May, intercepted 22-year-old
Muhammad Hamza with 57,750 pills of tramadol and diazepam, while same day their
counterparts in Bauchi arrested Usman Muhammad, 45, along Bauchi-Misau road
with 80 blocks of skunk weighing 45kg.
Similarly, operatives on stop-and-search operations
along Potiskum–Damaturu road, Yobe state intercepted 55 parcels of Colorado,
weighing 2kg, which a suspect Adum Muhammed, 29, was attempting to smuggle into
the Republic of Chad through Ngamboru Ngala border town in Borno State.
In Niger state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along
Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday 22nd May intercepted a Mercedes Benz car marked
FST 938 FU loaded with 235 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 97kg
and arrested a suspect, Adams Ayibakro.
This is even as operatives in Lagos raided the Osapa
London area of Lekki where they arrested a suspect Jonathan Isa with different
quantities of Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Molly, Rohypnol, Codeine, Cannabis and
Nitrous Oxide while another raid at Idasun, Eleko, Ibeju Lekki on Saturday 24th
May led to the arrest of Olamilekan Idowu and seizure of 48kg skunk.
The War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy
activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past
week. Some of them include: WADA sensitization lecture delivered to students
and staff of Adamu Babbale Government Secondary School, Dimirkol, Katsina; Mary
Hanney Secondary School, Oron, Akwa Ibom; Nnodo Secondary School, Abakaliki,
Ebonyi; Government Secondary School, Guyuk, Adamawa; and Government Girls
Islamic Secondary School, Gwagwarwa, Kano while Lagos State command of NDLEA
paid WADA advocacy visit to the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, Alhaji Muhammadu
Bambado, among others.
While commending the officers and men of PHPC, MMIA, Apapa, Nasarawa, Cross River, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe and Bauchi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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