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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have intercepted more than 1.3 million tablets and capsules of tramadol and other opioids, alongside 6,000 kilogrammes of cannabis, with a combined estimated street value exceeding N3.4 billion.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying the seizures and arrests were recorded during operations across Lagos, Edo, Niger, Delta, Ondo, Gombe, Imo and the Federal Capital Territory.
Among the major interceptions was 603.75kg of Canadian Loud, valued at N1.8 billion, seized at the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos. The consignment, shipped from Montreal, Canada, was concealed in 31 black jumbo bags loaded inside two Toyota Sienna vehicles in a 40-foot container.
In Delta State, operatives arrested a 49-year-old man along the Benin-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba for allegedly impersonating a Deputy Superintendent of Police to evade checkpoints while transporting drugs. He was reportedly found with 292.48kg of skunk concealed in a Toyota Sienna bus, while a 39-year-old accomplice was also arrested.
In Edo, a 45-year-old man was arrested at his auto-repair workshop on Agbor Road, Benin City, which NDLEA said was allegedly being used as a storage facility for illicit drugs. Operatives recovered 48kg of Canadian Loud and 152 grammes of methamphetamine.
The agency also reported the seizure of more than 1.1 million assorted tramadol tablets and capsules, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and Exol tablets from two suspects along the Abaji-Abuja Highway. In Lagos, another suspect was arrested with 48,900 pills of tramadol 225mg at Aguda, Surulere, while 59kg of cannabis was intercepted at a logistics company.
Other operations yielded 998.38kg of nitrous oxide gas in Apongbo, Lagos; 154,480 tramadol capsules in Gombe; 43.85kg of skunk along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo; and 48kg of dry and fresh cannabis in Ondo.
In Ondo State, four suspects were arrested during a raid on a two-hectare cannabis farm in Ita-Ogbolu Forest, where 5,000kg of skunk was destroyed.
The NDLEA said its officers in Niger State also intercepted two locally fabricated AK-47 rifles, a pistol, magazines and nine rounds of 9mm ammunition from three suspects along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
Meanwhile, the agency continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities across the country.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers involved in the operations and urged personnel nationwide to sustain intelligence-driven and balanced drug-control efforts.
