The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has thwarted attempts by transnational drug traffickers to flood Nigerian communities with large quantities of assorted illicit drugs during the yuletide season.
The NDLEA operatives frustrated the attempt and intercepted millions of tramadol 225mg pills, thousands of codeine syrup bottles, and bags of Canadian Loud in consignments arriving in the country ahead of the Christmas celebration.
The Director, Media and Advocacy in NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement released in Abuja on Sunday.
Babafemi said that the NDLEA operatives intercepted no fewer than 7,500,000 pills of tramadol 225mg at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
He said this was trafficked through the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) import shed of the airport and was intercepted by officers with the cooperation of men of the Nigeria Customs and other stakeholders.
Babafemi said that the consignment, which was taken into custody on Friday, December 22, came onboard a Turkish airline with no country of manufacture or origin.
“Apart from being the first time such shipment would be seized on the airline’s flight, it was equally the first of such coming from Hamburg, Germany.
“The 7.5million tramadol 225mg pills were also specially designed and packaged as Tamil-x concealed in 100 big cartons weighing 7,150kg, which arrived in the country on Dec.11 and were placed under surveillance until last Friday.
“Preliminary test of the tablets proved positive to tramadol hydrochloride,” the spokesman said.
In the same vein, operatives of the Lagos command of the agency on Wednesday, December 20, conducted a search operation on two shops marked Chex Mat Global Link Limited at the Trade Fair complex in the Ojo area of Lagos.
Babafemi said that 258 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup and eight cartons of codeine tablets were recovered.
He said the cartons contained 49, 200 bottles of codeine syrup and 46, 200 tablets of the same opioid.
“The following day, Thursday, December 21, NDLEA operatives raided a house in the Mushin area of Lagos where a 70-year-old grandma, Selifat Cole, and her son, Babajide Cole, were arrested with 117.900kg of cannabis sativa, ” he said.
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