Nigeria seizes smuggled opioid capsules in Lagos port

Nigeria’s narcotics agency has seized three million capsules of opioids at the main seaport in the commercial city of Lagos, a spokesman said Friday.

The seizure came a day after 8.6 kilogrammes of cannabis were impounded in another operation in the city. 

The street value of the drugs could not be immediately determined.

The illicit drugs were intercepted at the port during an inspection on March 7, National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) spokesman Femi Babafemi said in a statement.

“The seizure of 3,000,000 capsules of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol… followed a similar operation in which anti-narcotic officers of the agency also intercepted 8,613 kilogrammes of cannabis smuggled in from Ghana,” he said.

He said the capsule consignment was said to have originated from China and was falsely labelled as containing 271 packages of insulating fittings and industrial office printing machines.

But investigations revealed information on the bill of laden and shipping documents was fake and the shipment came from India.

He said some suspects had been arrested over the illegal shipments.

A senior Nigerian police officer, Abba Kyari, is currently facing charges for drug trafficking and his alleged links with an international drug cartel.