The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has impounded four tonnes of imported Tramadol tablets at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
MMIA Commandant of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Garba, told journalists on Thursday that the drug was imported in two batches from India and was recovered at the shed of one of the grounds handling companies at the airport.
According to him, the agency was unable to trace the importer and no clearing agent has come forward to clear the consignments.
“The seized consignments were imported into the country through the United Arab Emirates’s airline, Etihad Cargo,” he said.
Garba said the agency heard about the importation of the drugs through its foreign intelligent partners who notified it of its arrival.
He said, “The approved milligrams for Tramadol by the Federal Government is 50 milligrams and 100m, but the seized consignments were 250m, which indicated that the importer internationally imported the high milligrams for wrong use.
“The first batch of the two consignments arrived Nigeria on April 23, 2018, while the second consignment arrived on April 25 at the airport. The two consignments arrived in four waybills while the fifth waybill arrived at the command on Wednesday.”
Garba explained that the command only got hold of the consignments on Thursday after the owners refused to come forward for clearance, adding that officials of the agency had waited at the shed of the ground handling company since the first batch of the consignments arrived the country to apprehend the importer or the clearing agent but no one came to claim them.
Garba disclosed further that the command had made a total seizure of 187.22kg of illicit drugs between January and April this year.
He said cocaine was 1.88kg; heroin 4.48kg; Cannabis Sativa 15.64kg; methamphetamine, 41.06kg; ephedrine 89.06kg; and, phenacetin, 8.2kg.
“The command will continue to do everything to curb the activities of drug barons through the ingenuity of its officers,” Garba said.
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