- Safiu Kehinde
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recovered N9.3 billion worth of opioids at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the statement, the illicit drugs were concealed in seven watch-listed container.
The containers were positioned for joint examination by NDLEA officers, men of Custom Service and other security agencies between Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th May.
Following the conclusion of the examination, a total of 825,200 bottles of codeine based syrup and trodol worth N5.8 billion in street value were recovered.
Also recovered was over five million pills of opioids especially tapentadol 225mg worth N3.5 million.
This briught the combined street value of the opioids to N9.3 billion.
In another operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kano- Maiduguri road Friday intercepted the duo of Abubakar Hussein, 42, and Sahabi Adamu, 53, with Nine Hundred Thousand US dollars ($900,000) cash suspected to be counterfeit.
The suspects and the exhibit, according to the statement, will be transferred to the appropriate agency for further investigation.
In another operation in Adamawa state on Tuesday, NDLEA recovered a total of 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 275.300kg, from a parked Toyota Sienna vehicle marked YLA-408GG along Ngurore – Yola road.
The agency operatives in Kwara State would yesterday arrest a notorious female drug dealer identified as Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai at Oja Oba area of Ilorin.
Recovered from her were various quantities of opioids including tramadol, flunitrazepam and codeine-based syrup.
While commending the officers and men of MAKIA, PHPC, Kano, Kwara, and Adamawa Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, the NDLEA’s Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.