By Deborah Nnamdi, Port Harcourt
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA says its operatives have intercepted a total of Twenty-Five Million (25,000,000.00) pills of tapentadol and Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand (350,000) bottles of codeine-based syrup worth Fourteen Billion Nine Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N14,950,000,000.00) at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.
Tapentadol is an opioid three times stronger than tramadol.
NDLEA Spokesman, Femi Babafemi made this known in a statement issued on Sunday.
According to him, the seizures were made on Tuesday, 17th, and Friday, 20th September 2024, from three containers that had been on the watchlist of the agency following processed intelligence.
He said, “As a result, the NDLEA had requested for 100% joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
“The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of Thirteen Billion Seven Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N13,725,000,000.00) while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of Two Billion Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N2,450,000,000.00), bringing the total value of the seizures to Fourteen Billion Nine Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N14,950,000,000.00).
“The tapentadol consignment packed in 500 cartons was discovered in one of the containers on Tuesday, 17th September, while another container examined the same day contained 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine packed in 875 cartons.
“The third container containing 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine was examined on Friday 20th September,” he said.
