KEY POINTS

• Codeine and Tramadol are among the roughly N9 billion ($5.63 million) worth of opioids that the NDLEA seizes.
• With 35.2 kg of synthetic cannabis, a Canadian national was detained in Lagos.
• In communities and schools nationwide, NDLEA is still waging war on drug abuse.

By stopping an opioid shipment worth more than N9 billion ($5.63 million) and detaining multiple suspects, including a Canadian resident, the resident Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Nigeria made noteworthy progress in the fight against drug trafficking.

The fact that the seizures took place in several states and ports demonstrated how well the NDLEA and other agencies collaborated to stop the influx of illegal drugs.

Numerous seizures at airports and ports

In a significant operation, 338,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup and almost 13 million pills of opioids, including Tramadol, Tramaking, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, were seized by NDLEA agents working with Nigerian Customs and other partners.

Three containers that arrived from India on October 2 and 3 were the subject of the discovery, which was found during joint examinations at Port Harcourt Ports in Rivers State.

In a different operation in Lagos, 50 kg of Canadian Loud, a strong synthetic cannabis strain, were found in 100 shipments by NDLEA agents at the Tincan Seaport.

Based on reliable information, the officers followed the shipment to a warehouse in Ikorodu, Lagos, where it was hidden among foreign cars inside a Toyota Sienna. Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, a suspect, was taken into custody in connection with the seizures.

Similarly, NDLEA agents detained Adrienne Munju, a 41-year-old Canadian citizen, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

According to Vanguard, she was found with 74 packets of Canadian Loud, totaling 35.2 kilograms, stashed in her luggage after landing on a KLM flight from Canada.

Munju acknowledged that she had been approached via the internet to transport the drugs to Lagos for CAD $10,000, a sum of money she planned to use to pay for her master’s program in Canada.

Nationwide initiatives and apprehensions

In addition to their effective work at ports and airports, NDLEA agents conducted successful operations in Taraba State. There, they apprehended a commercial bus that was traveling from Onitsha, Anambra, to Jalingo, and discovered opioids concealed within the bus’s compartments.

Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor, two suspects, were taken into custody. In a different occurrence in Wukari, Chibuzor Okafor was taken into custody by the NDLEA when it was discovered that he had 80 blocks of cannabis, totaling 38 kilograms, hidden within garri sacks.

Afo-Media neighborhood of Ojo in Lagos saw the arrest of a suspect, Bolanle Ajenifuja, and the discovery of 700 liters of “skuchies,” an illegal concoction of indigenous chapman and narcotics.

In addition, the NDLEA detained three suspects, Ezekiel Akpele, Elijah Michael, and Goddard John, during a search on cannabis fields close to the Edo-Ondo border. 48 kilograms of processed psychoactive drugs were found among the 9,966 kilograms of destroyed cannabis.

Nationwide campaign continues

Reducing both the supply and demand of drugs has been the NDLEA’s twofold strategy in its anti-drug campaign, spearheaded by Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd).

As part of its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, the organization has been actively raising public awareness by holding awareness events in communities, companies, schools, and places of worship across the country.

Lectures at establishments such as Dominion Secondary School in Akwa Ibom, Akanu Ibiam Memorial Seminary School in Ebonyi, and Government Science Secondary School in Katsina are part of these outreach initiatives.

General Marwa encouraged the NDLEA personnel to keep up their efforts to eradicate illegal substances from the nation and commended them for their commitment.

He stressed that these latest seizures demonstrate the necessity of ongoing watchfulness and concerted efforts by law enforcement in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking.