Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted three trailer loads of opioids comprising 3.45 million pills and 344,000 bottles of codeine syrup.
Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the seizure in a statement issued on Sunday.
Babafemi said the seizure was made at Abule Ado in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Three suspects were also arrested in connection with the seizure, he said.
The multi-billion naira consignments were loaded into two 40ft container trucks and another 20ft truck at the AML Bonded Terminal, Abule-Osun, near the International Trade Fair Complex, before heading to a large warehouse at Abule-Ado, where NDLEA Officers eventually arrested the suspects and recovered the opioid consignments on May 9, 2024.
Those arrested were the warehouse agent, Cosmas Obiajulu, 51; Ridwan Balogun, 25; and Banjo Tayo, 30, with the last two being drivers of two of the trucks, while the third driver jumped off to escape arrest.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives on May 7, 2024 arrested a suspect, Nwankwo Ejike, in Coker area of Lagos State, where 100 litres of codeine syrup were recovered from him, while 60 litres of the same substance were seized from Clinton Akinye in the same area same day.
Not less than 37.5kg of cannabis sativa loaded in a Toyota Camry car was recovered from another suspect, Adegbola Segun, 47, when the car was intercepted at Mile 12 area of Lagos State on May 6.
Another consignment of opioids consisting of 59,106 pills of tramadol and different quantities of codeine syrup and rohypnol being taken across the border to Garua, Cameroon was intercepted by NDLEA officers on May 6 along Mubi-Yola Road, Adamawa State.
Two suspects linked to the drugs: Abubakar Auwal, 39, and Adamu Abubakar, 25, aka Bamanga, a trans-border trafficker who was to take the consignment from Mubi across to Cameroon, were promptly arrested.