The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the seizure of hard drugs worth N17.9 billion in major operations in Lagos and Rivers States.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
He said the hard drugs intercepted at the Onne and Tincan seaports were a total of 31,124,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and bottles of codeine-based syrup.
“The seizures were made following intelligence processed by the Agency on the movement of the shipments from their port of origin in India, leading to a demand for a 100 per cent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies,” he said.
“A breakdown of the seizures shows that 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tincan port in Lagos on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th August 2024. Each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid.
“At the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, NDLEA operatives equally intercepted a total of 447 cartons of tramadol 225mg containing Twenty-Nine Million Eight Hundred and Forty Thousand (29, 840,000) pills of the opioid as well as 380,000 bottles of codeine syrup from three containers on Thursday 29th August. The tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg.”
Operatives of the anti-narcotics agency said a wanted ex-beauty queen, Aderinoye Queen Christmas also known as Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye has surrendered to NDLEA Lagos Command after about eight months in hiding.
The ex-beauty queen was declared wanted by the agency in January after she escaped from her Lekki, Lagos residence when NDLEA operatives raided her apartment at Oral estate, Lekki on Wednesday 24th January following credible intelligence she deals in illicit substances.
“The suspect was Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and the founder of Queen Christmas Foundation. Recovered from her home during the search witnessed by the estate officials include 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drugs packing plastics, a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, and her picture frame among others.
“The suspect who claimed she has been hiding in Akure Ondo state since January when she escaped arrest in Lekki Lagos however surrendered to the Agency on Wednesday 28th August,” Babafemi stated.
