By Suleiman Anyalewechi
About 6 ,125 cartons of the opioid drug, codeine with a street value of over N 7.5 billion were?, on Saturday, June 29, intercepted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA at Onne Port Rivers State.
This is even as the regulatory agency on Friday, June 21, arrested two Doha- bound passengers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, for testing positive for ingestion of hard drugs.
A statement issued on Sunday, June 30 ,2024, by the NDLEA Spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the codeine seizure which was effected at the Onne Ports Complex, in PortHarcourt was made from six containers.
The NDLEA noted that the huge seizure is the third in the last four weeks of intense and concerted operations.
According to the statement, the giant stride was enabled by the availability of credible intelligence, followed by diligent tracking of the consignments from the ports of departure by the agency’s Special Forces, working in synergy with the Onne Command of the NDLEA and other sister security agencies ,including the Nigeria Customs Services NCS.
At the end of examinations of the six seized containers, the NDLEA further stated, about 6 ,125 cartons containing one million and fifty thousand ( 1.050,000 ) bottles of codeine syrup ,weighing 157 ,500kilograms were recovered .
The two apprehended Doha- bound passengers, Aikhomoun Daniel a.k.a (Oladapo Olarenwaju )and Ayigoro Waheed Omobolaji, were on board a Qatari Airways Flight. Luck, however, ran out on them at the screening point of Terminal 2,:following the discovery that they had ingested illicit substances.
In the end ,while Ayigoro excreted 60 wraps of class A cocaine substances weighing 660 grams, Daniel discharged 90 wraps of same class of substances with a weight of 1,022 kg.
“Further investigation revealed that Aikhomoun Daniel actually stole the identity of his late uncle who once based in Germany, a decision he claimed he took to get a Schengen visa to enable him free access to Europe, while his real name is Oladapo Olanrewaju.
“No less than 40 .32kg of loud, an imported strong strain of cannabis was on Friday ,June 28 ,recovered in a black Toyota Tacuma truck along Lekki-Ikoyi road ,when the driver jumped off the vehicle after noticing that NDLEA operatives were on his trail.
“In Abuja, NDLEA operatives Friday night ,disrupted a drug party dubbed “Go Hard or Go Home, Pick Your Poison ” where sixty (60) suspects comprising 25 males and 35 females were arrested at an apartment in Sun City Estate in the Federal Capital Territory .
“The raid followed credible intelligence about the drug party organized by one Stanley Ikechukwu who was arrested at the venue .
“At least six of the suspects ,Victoria Adoga,Hamza Yari,Joanne EsseinJoy ,Sochima Valentine ,Jago Imole and Charles Indobuibisi were arrested with different quantities of ecstasy and cannabis” the NDLEA stated .
Chairman of the Agency, Mohammed Marwa, a retired Brigadier General ,has directed that 20 of the suspects who tested negative for drugs be released unconditionally.
However, 33 suspects found to have tested positive are to be released on bail and will report at the Agency’s FCT Command Headquarters on Monday, July 1, for commencement of rehabilitations.
