The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has intercepted consignments of opioids concealed in shoes and hair attachments heading to the United States, United Kingdom and Cyprus.
This is contained in a statement by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr Babafemi stated that operatives of the agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, intercepted the consignments of three courier companies.
He said that a total of 2,118 pills of tramadol concealed in the soles of 13 pairs of shoes going to Cyprus were seized at the export shed of the Lagos airport on October 12.
The spokesman said that an additional 380 tablets were recovered from the home of the alleged sender, Okenwa Uchenna, during a follow-up operation in Enugu on Thursday, Oct. 24.
He added that cash, amounting to N968,880, and a Toyota Avalon car, marked UWN 389 AS, were recovered from the suspect at the time of his arrest.
Earlier, Mr Babafemi said that over 293 ampoules of promethazine and pentazocine injection; 1.690kg of cannabis and tramadol tablets were also intercepted by NDLEA operatives.
Mr Babafemi said that the drugs which were concealed in hair attachments and soles of shoes going to the United States, United Kingdom and Oman were intercepted at three courier firms.
“They were seized by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in Lagos on Thursday, Oct. 2,” he said.
In the same vein, a total of 26,250,000 pills of tramadol and 508,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port, Lagos, and Port Onne, Rivers.
Mr Babafemi said that the drugs intercepted by NDLEA operatives were worth N16.6 billion, in street value.
He said that they were recovered during a 100 percent joint examination of watch-listed containers with men of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and other security agencies between Tuesday, October 22, and Wednesday, October 23.
“Other illicit consignments intercepted during the joint inspection of the containers included 10 million tablets of Toradol Benzhexol and 28 plastic drums of methamphetamine weighing 700kg at Tincan and Onne, respectively.
“56 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 28kg, were also recovered from a container that arrived at the Lagos port from Canada.
“A suspect, Tsolaye Eburajolo, 40, was arrested at Ago Palace area of Okota, Lagos, in connection with the cannabis seizure while a bribe of N10 million paid NDLEA officers to free the suspect has been kept as part of the exhibits for the prosecution of the case,” he said.
