The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has intercepted no fewer than six million pills of opioids and 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup in ports in Lagos and Rivers states respectively.
The intercepted items have a combined street value of N6.5 billion.
A statement by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi on Sunday in Abuja named the opioids as tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg and carisoprodol 225mg.
Babafemi said that the drugs were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers and the Apapa Seaport, Lagos.
He said that the seizures at the Apapa and Onne ports followed intelligence and tracking of new trafficking routes to ship illicit substances into Nigeria.
This, he said, were by drug cartels, which necessitated the watch-listing of the containers for 100 percent examination.
“The consignments at the Port Harcourt ports: six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup were uncovered in two containers on Monday, May 19, and Tuesday, May 20.
“This feat was achieved during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers with men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies.
“At the Apapa port in Lagos, a total of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a watch-listed container by NDLEA operatives.
“This also happened during a similar joint examination exercise on Thursday, May 22,” he said.
