The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has secured an interim forfeiture of opioids valued at over N33.6bn intercepted at the Onne Port in Rivers State.
The development was disclosed on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement issued from Abuja.
According to the NDLEA, the containers were intercepted at different times between April and September 2025 during routine port surveillance operations.
The forfeiture followed a ruling by Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt after the agency filed an ex parte motion on February 10, 2026.
In suit number FHC/PH/MISC/25/2026, the court ordered the interim forfeiture of 17 shipping containers containing 365,657 kilogrammes of various psychotropic substances and other illegal items.
The judge directed that the containers and their contents be handed over to the Federal Government of Nigeria and placed under the custody of the NDLEA pending final determination of the case.
Reacting to the ruling, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described the forfeiture as a major blow to drug trafficking networks.
“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,” Marwa said.
He added that the action sends a strong warning to criminal syndicates.
“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,” he said.
The NDLEA noted that drug trafficking through Nigeria’s seaports has increasingly shifted beyond Lagos, with more activity being detected in other corridors such as Onne Port.
In June 2025, the agency intercepted seven containers of opioids and codeine syrup valued at N9.3bn at the same port complex.
Similarly, in August 2025, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control seized 16 containers of fake and substandard regulated products worth about N20.5bn at Onne.
In another operation in the South-South region, the NDLEA reported the seizure of illicit drugs worth over N1.8bn and the arrest of 104 suspected traffickers in Edo State in the first quarter of 2026.
Authorities say the continued seizures reflect intensified enforcement efforts aimed at disrupting large-scale drug trafficking networks and curbing the flow of illicit substances into the country.
