NDLEA intercepts N9.8bn worth of codeine shipments from India

Barely three weeks after seizing 6,125 cartons of codeine syrup containing 1,050,000 bottles of opioid worth over N7.3 billion in street value, at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers State, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have again intercepted another batch of seven containers bearing 1.2 million of the same substance worth over N9.8 billion at the Onne ports.

A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi on Friday said, the latest seizure made on Thursday, is the fourth and last set of such consignments that have been under the watchlist of the agency’s maritime special operations unit targeting 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 per cent joint examination of the targeted containers.

The statement said this followed credible intelligence and months of diligent tracking of the consignments from their port of departure.

At the joint examination of the containers with other security agencies on Thursday, all seven containers were found bearing a total of 8,774 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup with 1, 229, 400 bottles weighing 184,410 kilograms.

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 26,250kg. Other items in the container include 70 cartons of chilli cutters and 55 cartons of Hyregra tablets weighing 1,100kg.

Another container marked CMAU 9410422 contains 875 cartons of codeine with 175,000 bottles weighing 26,250 kg. Other items in the container include 15 cartons of chilli cutters and 60 cartons of Hyregra tablets weighing 1,200 kg.

Also, the container marked TLLU 7595503 has a total of 1, 754 cartons of codeine syrup containing 179, 400 bottles weighing 26,910kg. 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, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen Mohamed 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.

The NDLEA boss said the operation, which had inflicted heavy losses on the cartels behind the shipments has further degraded their capacity and financial base.

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