No fewer than 300 tonnes of Illicit drugs valued at N120billion have been impounded at Lagos and Tincan Island ports by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) this year.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said that the agency had seized 3million kilogrammes of illegal drugs with street value of over N120 billion from January to November, 2021.
He noted that majority of the drugs were seized from the Lagos ports, while two cases were recorded at the Onne port in Rivers state.
Babafemi stressed that the agency had arrested 10,355 persons in connection with importation and possession of the contraband drugs, while stating that out of the 10,355, a total of 5,579 persons had been counseled and rehabilitated, while over 1,000 persons convicted.
He said: “We are already making substantial progress in our drug supply and drug demand reduction efforts. We are convinced that the ongoing War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) would curb the twin evils of drug abuse and trafficking.’’
The director stressed that NDLEA in conjunction with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had impounded 133 containers of unregistered pharmaceutical products, including tramadol in 2020.
According to the Commander, Tincan Port Command of the NDLEA, Sumaila Ethan, he said the consignment was brought into Nigeria from Brazil on board a vessel marked MV SPAR SCORPIO.
Also in the same month, NDLEA seized one container of Tramadol at Apapa seaport. Babafemi said the container had about two million capsules of Tramadol packed inside 554 cartons.
According to Apapa seaport area Commander of NDLEA, Samuel Gadzama, the illegal drugs came in from Kenya
Similarly, in March, 2021 the agency announced that it had inteligence from its international partners, on the shipment of illicit narcotic to Nigeria from the Middle East, through the Apapa Port.
In May 2021, NDLEA also intercepted a container of 4,996,200 tramadol capsules weighing 2,498.2 kilogrammes at the Onne port in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, saying that the container that was destined for Lagos port was diverted to Onne port.
In June 2021, the agency also intercepted no fewer than 100,000 bottles of codeine syrup with a total weight of 15,325kilogrammes at the Onne seaport.
Although, there were no recorded seizures in July and August, however in September 7, 2021 the Chairman NDLEA, retired Brig. Mohamed Buba Marwa, said drugs meant for insurgents worth N6 billion were intercepted by the agency at the Apapa port in Lagos.
Giving details of the seizures while speaking at a media briefing recently, Marwa said that loads of Captagon, a brand of Amphetamine, were intercepted by the agency’s operatives.
Also, a week later, the NDLEA security seized over 24, 311kilogrammes of heroin, codeine as well as Arizona and Colorado variants of cannabis in fresh drug busts at the Tincan seaport, Lagos state. The seizure was valued at N5.8billion.
In October 14, the Nigerian Navy said that 22 suspects were arrested with 32.9 kg of cocaine seized from a cargo ship which departed from Brazil to Nigeria.
Navy Commander, Bashir Mohammed, at a news conference said that the 22 suspects were arrested on a cargo ship by a joint team led by the Nigerian navy, following an intelligence report from the Interpol.
Similarly, in October NDLEA intercepted nearly half a million Amphetamine pills hidden in a machinery coming into a Lagos port. The agency informed that the drugs were from Lebanon with an estimated $11 million, or roughly N6 billion
