The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, shared that on Friday, its operatives intercepted a shipment from India which turned out to be another batch of seven containers holding one million two hundred and twenty-nine thousand four hundred bottles of the same substance worth over nine billion eight hundred and thirty-five million two hundred thousand naira (N9,835,200,000.00) at the Onne ports.
The NDLEA said it comes on the back of seizing six thousand, one hundred and twenty-five (6,125) cartons of codeine syrup containing one million and fifty thousand (1,050,000) bottles of the opioid worth over seven billion three hundred and fifty million naira (N7,350,000,000.00) in street value, at the same location barely three weeks ago.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, shared this in a statement issued on Friday.
Babafemi said the latest seizure made on Thursday is the fourth of such consignments that have been under the watchlist of the Agency’s Maritime Special Operations Unit Targeting Team, which worked in partnership with the Port Harcourt Ports Command of the Agency and other security agencies, including the Customs Service for a 100 percent joint examination of the targeted containers.
According to him, this followed months of diligent tracking of the consignments from their port of departure and credible intelligence gathering.
“At the joint examination of the containers with other security agencies on Thursday, all the seven containers were found bearing a total of 8,774 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup with 1,229,400 bottles contained inside weighing 184,410 kilograms.
A breakdown of the various items from India via the Maersk Vigo Vessel. The shipment includes several containers with different items, including:
– Container SEKU 6439421:
– 875 cartons of codeine (175,000 bottles, weighing 26,250kg)
– 70 cartons of chili cutters
– 55 cartons of hyregra tablets (weighing 1,100kg)
– Container CMAU 9410422:
– 875 cartons of codeine (175,000 bottles, weighing 26,250kg)
– 15 cartons of chili cutters
– 60 cartons of hyregra tablets (weighing 1,200kg)
– Container TLLU 7595503:
– 1,754 cartons of codeine syrup (179,400 bottles, weighing 26,910kg)
– Four other containers (TRHU 515117, CMAU 7877125, CMAU 8533700, and CMAU 3882205):
– 175,000 bottles of codeine each (in addition to other items like chili cutters, hyregra tablets, and diclofenac)
In his response to the latest seizure, the Chairman of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended all the officers, men and women of the various formations of the Agency that had been working on the targeted containers for months for their diligence, vigilance and professionalism.
Marwa equally praised the support received from everyone at the ports that contributed to the successful operations in the course of targeting the shipments.
He said the seamless operation has further inflicted heavy financial losses on the cartels behind the shipments.
