N6.5billion opioids intercepted in Lagos, Rivers ports as NDLEA nabs 2 British men
.. Destroys 77,000kg skunk in Cross River, Edo forests; recovers 4,000kg in Nasarawa
By Femi Babafemi
No fewer than six million pills of opioids namely: tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg and carisoprodol 225mg as well as 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup with a combined street value of Six Billion Five Hundred and Twenty-Four Million Naira (N6,524,000,000.00) have been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers and the Apapa seaport, Lagos.
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. The consignments at the Port Harcourt ports: six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup were uncovered in two containers on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th May 2025 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 on Thursday 22nd May.
Meanwhile, two British nationals: Mhizha Jordan Alexander Tatendra and Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon as well as two Nigerians: Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami have been arrested by NDLEA operatives for attempting to smuggle into Nigeria 92 bags of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 51.10kg through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.
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, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, who is a Nigerian British, was waiting in an SUV along with his relation Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and the driver of the vehicle, Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, to receive the courier.
The NDLEA operatives tracking them however swooped on them as they attempted to drive out of the airport car park, arresting them with the drug exhibits in the vehicle. 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 Andrew Adejuwon, confessed that he arrived in Nigeria a day earlier from South Africa through Ghana.
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 Three Million Eight Hundred and Ten Thousand Five Hundred Naira (N3,810,500) cash, an Apple laptop, an iPhone 14 Pro Max and four laughing gas (Nitro Oxide) canisters.
A total of 75,000 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on 30 hectares of cannabis farms
by NDLEA operatives at Esuk-Odot village in Odukpani LGA, Cross River state where 200kg of same substance was recovered on Wednesday 22nd May, while 1,957.5kg of the same psychoactive plant was destroyed at Ohosu forest, Ovia South West LGA and Okhuse community forest, Owan West LGA, Edo State on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th May.
In Nasarawa state, two suspects: Sunday Daniel, 51, and Abu Peter, 30, were arrested at Keffi by NDLEA operatives on Saturday 24th May when 4,000 kilograms of skunk were discovered concealed under unprocessed wood in their lorry, while another suspect, Godwin Obi, 39, was nabbed at Karu with 154.5kg of same substance on Wednesday 21st May.
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kaduna – Zaria expressway at Gwargwaje on Wednesday 21st May, intercepted 22-year-old Muhammad Hamza with 57,750 pills of tramadol and diazepam, while same day their counterparts in Bauchi arrested Usman Muhammad, 45, along Bauchi-Misau road with 80 blocks of skunk weighing 45kg.
Similarly, operatives on stop-and-search operations along Potiskum–Damaturu road, Yobe state intercepted 55 parcels of Colorado, weighing 2kg, which a suspect Adum Muhammed, 29, was attempting to smuggle into the Republic of Chad through Ngamboru Ngala border town in Borno State.
In Niger state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday 22nd May intercepted a Mercedes Benz car marked FST 938 FU loaded with 235 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 97kg and arrested a suspect, Adams Ayibakro.
This is even as operatives in Lagos raided the Osapa London area of Lekki where they arrested a suspect Jonathan Isa with different quantities of Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Molly, Rohypnol, Codeine, Cannabis and Nitrous Oxide while another raid at Idasun, Eleko, Ibeju Lekki on Saturday 24th May led to the arrest of Olamilekan Idowu and seizure of 48kg skunk.
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 Adamu Babbale Government Secondary School, Dimirkol, Katsina; Mary Hanney Secondary School, Oron, Akwa Ibom; Nnodo Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Government Secondary School, Guyuk, Adamawa; and Government Girls Islamic Secondary School, Gwagwarwa, Kano while Lagos State command of NDLEA paid WADA advocacy visit to the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, Alhaji Muhammadu Bambado, among others.
While commending the officers and men of PHPC, MMIA, Apapa, Nasarawa, Cross River, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe and Bauchi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA .
