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Operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency on Sunday said they turned down a N10m bribe offered to free one drug suspect, Tsolaye Eburajolo, arrested earlier in Lagos.
This was as the operatives recovered 26,250,000 pills of tramadol as well as 508,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N16,683,800,000 in street value were intercepted by the NDLEA operatives during 100 per cent joint examination of watch-listed containers with men of Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the Tin Can Port in Lagos and Port Harcourt port, Onne, Rivers State between October 22 and 23.
Eburajolo, a 40-year-old man, was arrested at the Ago Palace area of Okota, Lagos in connection with drugs intercepted by the officials.
According to a statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the bribe offered to free the suspect had been added to the exhibits recovered from the suspect.
The statement said, “Other illicit consignments intercepted during the joint inspection of the containers include 10 million tablets of Toradol Benzhexol and 28 plastic drums of methamphetamine weighing 700kg at Tincan and Onne respectively, while 56 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 28kg, were also recovered from a container that arrived the Lagos port from Canada.”
“A suspect, Tsolaye Eburajolo, 40, was arrested at Ago Palace area of Okota Lagos in connection with the cannabis seizure while a bribe of N10m paid the NDLEA officers to free the suspect has been kept as part of the exhibits for the prosecution of the case.”
Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives also recovered no fewer than 293 ampoules of promethazine and pentazocine injection as well as 1.690kg cannabis and tramadol tablets concealed in hair attachments and soles of shoes going to the United States, United Kingdom and Oman at three courier firms.
“A total of 2,118 pills of tramadol concealed in soles of 13 pairs of shoes going to Cyprus were seized at the export shed of the Lagos airport on October 12, 2024, and an additional 380 tablets recovered from the home of the sender, Okenwa Kelvin Uchenna, during a follow-up operation in Enugu on Thursday, October 24,” he added.
He noted that the NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday, October 25, raided the Igbo-Igunuko shrine, located at the Alfa Beach, Ajah, where jumbo bags of Ghanaian Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 2,760kg, were recovered.
“Two suspects, Gbenga Abiodun and Sunday Abiodun, were arrested. Another suspect, Ademola Oyelakin, was also arrested the same day with 770kg of the same psychoactive substance along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, “ he added.
Babafemi said a total of 11,786 pills of tramadol, molly, Rohypnol and diazepam, as well as 64 bottles of codeine syrup, were recovered from the underground storage at the residence of one Muhammad Abdullahi.
He said Abdullahi dug his bedroom at Marwa Coastal Road, Lekki Phase 1 Lagos, covered it with padlocked iron slate and a rug and then put his mattress on top to avoid being discovered.
