By Daniel Edu
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has successfully intercepted and confiscated illicit drugs valued at approximately five billion nairas from a warehouse located in Lagos.
According to a statement released on Sunday by NDLEA’s media officer, Femi Babafemi, the agency uncovered the warehouse in the vicinity of the renowned International Trade Fair Complex at Alaba, Ojo area of Lagos.
The seizure included 1.4 million (1,400,000) pills of tramadol 225mg, weighing 826 kilograms; 3.2 million (3,200,000) pills of codeine with a gross weight of 3,360 kilograms; and 2,841 cartons of codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles, amounting to 28,410 liters of the psychoactive substance. The combined street value of these seized substances is estimated at Four Billion Eight Hundred and Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,820,500,000). The warehouse is alleged to belong to a wanted billionaire drug baron.
During the operation, which extended over several hours, the NDLEA apprehended a suspect named Paulinus Ojukwu, who serves as the Chief Security Officer to the aforementioned wanted drug baron. The suspect, posing as an automobile spare parts dealer, is now in custody and assisting with ongoing investigations.
This seizure comes shortly after the arrest of a drug baroness, Faith Ebele Nwankwo, who was taken into custody with Two Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand (2,750,000) pills of tramadol 225mg and 250mg, as well as a significant amount of the same drug from a warehouse.
Additionally, on a different note, NDLEA operatives recently confiscated suspected counterfeit Twenty Million US Dollar notes ($20 million) during a routine stop and search operation along Abaji – Lokoja Road within the Federal Capital Territory. The suspected counterfeit currency was found in a bus traveling from Lagos to Abuja, resulting in the arrest of the 53-year-old driver of the vehicle, Onyebuchi Nlededin.
Furthermore, NDLEA operations conducted on August 17 and 18 led to the arrest of several individuals involved in the trafficking of drugs, including the seizure of methamphetamine and other illegal substances.
