Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in Rivers State have intercepted seven containers loads with 1,229,400 bottles of codeine worth N9, 835,200,000.00.
According to the agency, the shipment were seized at the Onne Ports in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
The seizure comes barely three weeks after 6,125 cartons of codeine syrup worth N7, 350,000,000.00 were intercepted in Rivers.
A statement on Friday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said the latest seizure is the fourth and last set of such consignments that had been under the watch list of the Agency’s Maritime Special Operations Unit Targeting Team.
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Babafemi said, “Barely three weeks after seizing 6,125 cartons of codeine syrup containing 1,050,000 bottles of the opioid worth over N7, 350,000,000.00 in street value, at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers State, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have again intercepted another batch of seven containers bearing one million two hundred and twenty-nine thousand four hundred bottles of the same substance worth over N9,835,200,000.00 at the Onne ports.
“The latest seizure made on Thursday, July 18, 2024, is the fourth and last set of such consignments that have been under the watchlist of the Agency’s Maritime Special Operations Unit Targeting Team, which worked in partnership with the Port Harcourt Ports Command of the Agency and other security agencies including the Customs Service for a 100 per cent joint examination of the targeted containers. “
Babafemi said during a joint examination with other security agencies on Thursday, seven containers were found to contain 8,774 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup, totalling 1,229,400 bottles and weighing 184,410 kilograms.
