The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has secured a court order on an interim forfeiture of opioids worth over N33.6 billion intercepted at the Onne Port in Rivers State.
The anti-drug agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Tuesday, recalled that the contraband containers were intercepted at different times between April and September 2025.
According to him, the forfeiture order was given in a ruling by Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, after the NDLEA filed an ex-parte motion on February 10, 2026, in suit number FHC/PH/MISC/25/2026.
Delivering the ruling, the judge ordered the interim forfeiture of the seized containers and their contents to the Federal Government.
- Advertisement -
Specifically, the judge ruled: “An order is hereby made forfeiting in the interim to the Federal Government of Nigeria seventeen (17) shipping containers containing a total, of three hundred and sixty-five thousand, six hundred and seventy-five (365,657kg) of various types of psychotropic substances, as well as other items as stated in the schedule to this application, illegally imported into Nigeria through the Onne Sea Port, Onne, Eleme, Rivers State by unknown persons.”
In addition, the court also directed that the NDLEA should retain custody of the containers pending the final determination of the suit before it
Speaking on the interim forfeiture order on the contraband, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), described the forfeiture as a decisive blow to drug cartels.
He said: “This is not just a seizure, it is a total dispossession of the resources the drug cartels intended to use in destroying the lives of our youths and funding further criminality.
“By stripping the criminal syndicates of assets worth over N33.6 billion, we have struck at the heart of their operations. This sends a clear message: the Nigerian state will not allow the proceeds of death to circulate to fund terrorism and other forms of criminality in our country”, Marwa added.
The 17 containers, which contained 19.6 million pills of Tramadol, Tafrodol, Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, as well as 2.49 million bottles of codeine syrup, were intercepted at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, on multiple dates in 2025
The NDLEA chairman commended the officers and men of the agency at the Onne Port Command for their vigilance that made the seizure possible and also thanked the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies’ team in ensuring the successful interdiction.
