The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a massive haul of opioids worth N9.3 billion in Rivers State.
A statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said the seizure was made at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Onne, where NDLEA officers and other security agencies jointly examined seven watch-listed containers.
Mr. Babafemi said the intercepted drugs include 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and trodol worth N5.7 billion and 5.1 million pills of opioids, particularly tapentadol 225mg, worth N3.5 billion.
According to him, in other operations, the NDLEA arrested suspects with suspected counterfeit currency in Kano, seized 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 275.300kg in Adamawa State, and arrested a notorious female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai, in Kwara State with various quantities of opioids.
He explained, further, that the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week. Some of them include: WADA sensitization lecture delivered to students and staff of Government Day Senior Secondary School, Kwasarawa, Katsina; Corpus Christi College, Achi, Enugu; Epignosis Standard College, Onitsha, Anambra; Government Girls Secondary School, Utai, Wudil LGA, Kano; and Government Girls Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River, among others.
He quoted the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) as commending the officers and men of MAKIA, PHPC, Kano, Kwara, and Adamawa Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
He equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.