Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intercepted over 31 million pills of tramadol 225mg and bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N17.9 billion at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State and Tincan seaport in Lagos.

NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday that the seizures followed intelligence processed by the agency on the movement of the shipments from their port of origin in India, leading to a demand for a 100 per cent joint examination of the watch-listed containers.

He said this with the help of the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies.

Mr Babafemi said a breakdown of the seizures showed that 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers at Tincan port in Lagos on Thursday, August 29, and Friday, August 30.

He said each of the two containers had 175,000 bottles of the opioid, adding that at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, NDLEA operatives equally intercepted 447 cartons of tramadol 225mg.

The NDLEA spokesman added that the cartons, which contained 29,840,000 pills of the opioid and 380,000 bottles of codeine syrup, were from three containers intercepted on Thursday, August 29.

“The tramadol shipments came under different brand names such as Royal Tapetadol, Carisoprodol 225mg and Royal Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg.

“The following day, Friday, August 30, another set of three containers watch-listed by NDLEA were subjected to joint examination.

“At the end of the exercise, a total of 3,030 cartons of codeine syrup containing 554,600 bottles of the opioid were recovered from them.

“This brings the total bottles of codeine seized at Onne, Rivers and Tincan in Lagos to 1,284,600 bottles worth N8,992,200,000 in street value while the combined seizure of tramadol stood at 29,840,000 pills valued at N8,940,000,000,” he said.

Mr Babafemi quoted the NDLEA chairman, Buba Marwa, as commending all the officers and men of PHPC, Tincan and the special operations unit of the agency that had been working on the targeted containers for their vigilance and professionalism.

Mr Marwa equally praised the support from other stakeholders at the ports, which enabled seamless and successful operations while targeting the shipments.

(NAN)