Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted another batch of seven containers bearing over 1.2 million bottles of codeine conservatively put at a worth of over N9.8 billion at the Onne Ports, Rivers state.
The latest seizure made on Thursday is coming barely three weeks after seizing 6,125 cartons of the same syrup containing 1.05 bottles of the opioid worth about N7.4 billion in street value, was seized at the same port.
A statement on Friday by the spokesman of the antill narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi said the latest seizure made was the fourth and last set of such consignments that have been under the watchlist of the agency’s Maritime Special Operations Unit Targetting Team, which worked in partnership with the Port Harcourt Ports Command of the agency and other security agencies including the Customs Service for a 100 percent joint examination of the targeted containers, noting that this followed credible intelligence and months of diligent tracking of the consignments from their port of departure.
Babafemi said at the joint examination of the containers with other security agencies on Thursday, all the seven containers were found bearing a total of 8,774 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup with over 1.2 million bottles weighing 184,410 kilogrammes.
He said a breakdown of the shipments that came from India via the Maersk Vigo Vessel shows that the container marked SEKU 6439421 has 875 cartons with 175,000 bottles of codeine weighing 26,250 kilogrammes. Other items in the container include 70 cartons of chilli cutters and 55 cartons of hyregra tablets weighing 1,100 kilogrammes. Another container marked CMAU 9410422 contains 875 cartons of codeine with 175,000 bottles weighing 26,250 kilogrammes. Other items in the container include 15 cartons of chilli cutters and 60 cartons of hyregra tablets weighing 1,200 kilogrammes. Also, the container marked TLLU 7595503 has a total of 1,754 cartons of codeine syrup containing 179,400 bottles weighing 26,910 kilogrammes.
He added that four other containers marked: TRHU 515117; CMAU 7877125; CMAU 8533700; and CMAU 3882205 contain 175,000 bottles of the same substance each in addition to other items such as chilli cutters, cartons of hyregra tablets and diclofenac used to mask the shipments.
In his response to the latest seizure, Chairman/ Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended all the officers, men and women of the various formations of the agency that had been working on the targeted containers for months for their diligence, vigilance and professionalism.
He equally praised the support received from other stakeholders at the ports that enabled the seamless and successful operations in the course of targeting the shipments. He said the operation, which had inflicted heavy losses on the cartels behind the shipments has further degraded their capacity and financial base.
Michael Olugbode
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