By Abiola Olawale
In an intensified fight against drugs and crime, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced that its operatives in different operations in Nigeria have intercepted illicit drugs valued at over N3.4 bn in Lagos and Rivers.
The agency also announced that its operatives also uncovered a cache of 942 explosives.
This was contained in a press statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi.
A breakdown of the statement revealed that 2m pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered on April 29 during a joint examination of a watch-listed container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service, and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
Also, the statement revealed that in Lagos State, a total of 1,500,000 pills of controlled opioids were recovered in the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo.
The statement reads in part: “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted no fewer than three million five hundred thousand (3,500,000) pills of opioids and one hundred and sixty-three thousand (163,000) bottles of codeine syrup with a combined street value of over three billion, four hundred and twenty-eight million naira (N3,428,000,000.00) in Port Harcourt, Rivers state and Lagos state.
“The bulk of the seizures: two million pills of tafrodol 225mg and 163,000 bottles of codeine syrup, was made on Tuesday 29th April 2025 during a joint examination of a watch-listed container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service and other security agencies at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
“In Lagos, a total of 1,500,000 pills of a controlled opioid were recovered from a suspect Olarenwaju Wahab at the Alaba-Rago area of Ojo on Tuesday 29th April while the source of the consignment was traced to Q104B Road 25, Victoria Garden City, Lekki, which is the residence of one Obinna Kenneth who is now at large.”
Babafemi revealed that in Kaduna State, a routine patrol along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway on May 3 led to the interception of a commercial vehicle from Nasarawa.
“In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kaduna – Zaria expressway on Saturday 3rd May intercepted a commercial vehicle coming from Nasarawa State heading to Zamfara State.
“A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a total of Nine Hundred and Forty-Two (942) explosives concealed in a sack and the subsequent arrest of a 30-year-old suspect Nura Sani Muhammad (alias Nura Hariji),” he said.
Babafemi also said that at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, NDLEA operatives intercepted 42 parcels of Canadian Loud, a potent cannabis strain, concealed in food tins aboard a British Airways flight from Canada.
He added that three suspects, including the receiver, Monsurat Lawson, were arrested between April 30 and May 3.
In a separate incident also at the Lagos airport on May 2, Babafemi disclosed that a businessman, Bobby Morris Osas, was arrested while attempting to travel to Italy with over 8,000 pills of tramadol.
“Similarly, on April 28, NDLEA officers foiled an attempt to export drugs to Iraq through a courier company, seizing 104 grams of tramadol and skunk hidden in bottles of body cream, ” he added.
Also, Babafemi, in the statement confirmed the arrest of Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku, a 52-year-old Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, over his alleged role in importing over 2.6 million tramadol pills through the Apapa port in July 2024.
“After 10 months of painstaking investigation, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 26th April arrested a wanted drug kingpin, the 52-year-old Managing Director of Ovidaq International Ltd, Dominic Chiegozie Obijiaku over his involvement in the importation of a consignment of 2,616,060 pills of tramadol 225mg intercepted by NDLEA at Apapa seaport in Lagos on 28th July 2024.
“A follow-up operation at his house in Lekki led to the seizure of 51 wraps of Canadian Loud weighing 34 grams,” the statement added.
