By IBIRONKE ARIYO

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted seven watch-listed containers with N9.3 billion worth of opioids and codeine based syrup at the Port Harcourt Port Complex (PHPC) in Onne.

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

Babafemi said that the containers were positioned for joint examination by NDLEA, Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) and other security agencies.

He said that the examinations was conducted between Wednesday, May 28 and Friday, May 30, during which 825,200 bottles of codeine based syrup and tramadol worth N5.8 billion in street value were seized.

He also said that a total of 5.1million pills of opioids especially tapentadol 225mg worth N3.5 billion were recovered.

?This brings the combined street value of the opioids to N9.3 billion, ?he said.

In another development, a total of 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis, was recovered by the NDLEA operatives.

Babafemi said that the drugs which weighed 275.300kg were recovered from a parked Toyota Sienna vehicle marked YLA-408GG along Ngurore-Yola road, Adamawa on Tuesday, May 27.

Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives in Kwara on Saturday, May 31 arrested a notorious female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai at Oja Oba area of Ilorin.

This, he said, was where various quantities of opioids including tramadol, flunitrazepam and codeine-based syrup were seized from her.

Meanwhile, 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 sensitisation lecture delivered to students and staff of Government Day Senior Secondary School, Kwasarawa, Katsina; Corpus Christi College, Achi, Enugu; Epignosis Standard College, Onitsha, Anambra;

Others are Government Girls Secondary School, Utai, Wudil LGA, Kano; and Government Girls Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River.

Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa as commending the officers and men of PHPC, Kwara, and Adamawa commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.

Marwa equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts. (NAN)

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