Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have thwarted plans to smuggle over five million pills of Tramadol said to be worth N3.7bn into the country.
The agency’s Director, Media, and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday.
Babafemi said the feat was achieved through the collaboration of men of the Nigeria Customs Service and others working at the airport’s DHL cargo warehouse.
He, however, did not disclose when the pills were intercepted.
“Attempts to smuggle 98 cartons containing 5,122,900 pills of Tramadol 225mg with an estimated street value of about N3.7bn only into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, have been thwarted through the robust synergy between men of the Nigeria Customs Service and NDLEA officers at the airport as well as those at the DHL cargo warehouse,” the statement added.
The NDLEA spokesman added that preliminary investigations revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, while some of the seized consignments had Freetown, Sierra Leone as the final destination.
Meanwhile, the agency, according to Babafemi, also arrested a suspected drug kingpin identified as Charles Uwagbale in his hotel room in the Okota area of Lagos.
The NDLEA accused 43-year-old Uwagbale of sponsoring young Nigerians to move “Class A” drugs to European countries.
Babafemi said the operatives stormed the suspect’s hotel room when he was preparing one Uju Dominic who he recruited to ingest 93 pellets of cocaine.
The statement read, “It was a rude shock to a notorious drug kingpin who specialises in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffic Class A drugs to Europe especially Italy, when operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, stormed his hotel room in the Okota area of Lagos late on Friday, July 21 when he was preparing a recruited courier to swallow 93 pellets of cocaine meant for distribution in Italy.
“The 48-year-old drug kingpin, Charles Uwagbale, had recruited Uju Dominic, 35, from his base in Italy with a deal to come to Nigeria, ingest 100 pellets of cocaine on Friday, July 21, and return to Italy on Saturday, July 22.
“True to plan, upon the arrival in Nigeria, the mule was lodged in Golden Heaven Hotel located at Enoma Street off Ago-Palace way, Okota, Isolo, Lagos where Uwagbale brought 93 wraps of the Class A drug for him to swallow at about 11.45 pm on Friday.”
Babafemi said the two men were arrested and drugs weighing 1.427Kg were recovered from them.
“They were in the process when the NDLEA operatives who have been on their trail following credible intelligence stormed their hotel room, arrested both, and recovered the drug exhibits with a total weight of 1.427Kg.
“Operatives of the Lagos State Command of the Agency who made the arrest and seizure had on Thursday, July 20 raided Akala in the Mushin area of the state where they recovered 37.5kg cannabis from the home of a fleeing suspect,” he explained.
In another operation, Babafemi said operatives in Bauchi State recovered 6,265,080 pills of opioids from three suspects; Emmanuel Onyebuchi, 32; Uche Iyida, 33; and Chinedu Ezeanyim, 32.
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