By IBIRONKE ARIYO

NDLEA operatives at the Apapa, Tincan Island and Onne seaports have intercepted container consignments of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis and codeine-based syrup worth over N5 billion.

This is contained in a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja.

Babafemi said that the successful operation followed months of intelligence and tracking of movement of the shipments from their ports of origin.

He said that at the Apapa port, NDLEA officers acted on intelligence and subjected two containers from Bangkok, Thailand to thorough examination together with men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other stakeholders.

“A search of one of the containers on Saturday, September 3 yielded 161 parcels of Thai Loud weighing 124kg, worth N372,000,000, concealed in two refrigerators and two cartons,” he said.

He said that at the Onne port in Rivers state, two containers on NDLEA watch-list, based on processed intelligence were subjected to joint examination with the NCS and other security agencies.

Babafemi disclosed that during the examination, 40 packs of Loud weighing 22kg were found hidden in a travelling bag and three of five vehicles (Toyota Matrix, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra) shipped in one of the containers.

“The second container held 109,600 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup weighing 16,440kg.

“The container had left India to Saudi Arabia where the history of its origin was deleted, to avoid being targeted.

“The codeine and Loud consignments have a combined street value of N833,200,000,”he said.

Babafemi said that at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Sept. 29, conducted a joint examination of a watch-listed container from Montreal, Canada with Customs and other stakeholders.

He said the examination discovered a total of 2,595 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 1,297.5kg, concealed in a Toyota Sienna and a Hyundai Elantra, with 24 blue drums and six jumbo bags in the container.

He said that the consignment was worth over N3.8 billion in street value.

Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman, retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, as commending the officers and men of Tincan and Lagos command for their professionalism and intelligence-driven approach that led to the successful operations.

Marwa urged them to sustain the onslaught against drug trafficking networks, while continuing the balanced approach efforts of the drug control agency. (NAN)

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