NDLEA arrests British nationals, recovers N6.5 billion drugs in Lagos, Rivers ports

Opioids worth over N6.5 billion have been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State and the Apapa Seaport, Lagos, in the course of last week.

According to a statement on Sunday, May 25, by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, the opioids with quantities no fewer than six million pills of opioids include tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg and carisoprodol 225mg as well as 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup with street value put at exactly N6,524,000,000.00. Babafemi revealed the seizures at the Apapa and Onne ports followed intelligence and tracking of new trafficking routes to ship illicit substances into Nigeria by drug cartels, which necessitated the watch-listing of the containers for 100 percent examination.

He said intercepted consignments at the Port Harcourt ports are six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup uncovered in two containers last Monday, May 19, and Tuesday, May 20, during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers with men of the Nigeria Customs and other security agencies.

At the Apapa Port in Lagos, a total of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a watch-listed container by NDLEA operatives during a similar joint examination exercise last Thursday, May 22. He said two British nationals: Mhizha Tatendra and Ayedipe Adejuwon, as well as two Nigerians: Shonowo Imole and Ofuoma Ayobami, have been arrested by NDLEA operatives for attempting to smuggle into Nigeria 92 bags of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 51.1 kilogrammes, through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

He said Alexander was intercepted with the consignment upon his arrival at the MMIA on a Qatar Airline flight from Doha, based on processed intelligence on Thursday, 15th May. He was allowed to pass through the security control unhindered and closely monitored by NDLEA operatives to the car park, where the owner of the cargo, Adejuwon, who is a Nigerian British, was waiting in an SUV along with his relation Shonowo Imole and the driver of the vehicle, Ofuoma Ayobami, to receive the courier.

Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives tracking them swooped on them as they attempted to drive out of the airport car park, arresting them with the drug exhibits in the vehicle. He said in his statement, Alexander confessed he was recruited during his vacation weeks ago while he was promised 1,300 British Pounds after a successful delivery of the consignment in Lagos.

The arrowhead of the syndicate, Ayedipe Adejuwon, confessed that he arrived in Nigeria a day earlier from South Africa through Ghana. The spokesman said a follow-up operation at their apartment in Lekki led to more discoveries.

At the point of his arrest, N93,000 and 17,200 South African Rand were recovered from him while a search of his Lekki apartment led to the seizure of N3,810,500 cash, an Apple laptop, an iPhone 14 Pro Max and four laughing gas (Nitro Oxide) canisters.