A 48-year-old suspected drug lord, Charles Uwagbale, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The drug lord was arrested, last Friday, while feeding a mule with 93 cocaine wraps to ingest.
This was as the anti-narcotics agency, pop in another operation, recovered 12.4million pills of opioids, 6,921.5kg skunk in Ondo State.
The agency also destroyed 33 hectares of cannabis farms in Edo State and intercepted another Colorado shipment from Canada.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, made the disclosures in a press release issued on Sunday.
The suspected drug lord was said to be a specialist in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffic Class A drugs to Europe, especially Italy.
However, the drug lord was rudely shocked when NDLEA operatives stormed his hotel room in Okota area of Lagos.
The drug lord was arrested when he was preparing a recruited courier to swallow 93 pellets of cocaine meant for distribution in Italy.
The drug lord allegedly recruited Uju Dominic (35), from his base in Italy with a deal to come to Nigeria. The plan is that he will ingest 100 pellets of cocaine on Friday and return to Italy on Saturday.
“True to plan, upon his arrival in Nigeria, the mule was lodged in Golden Heaven Hotel. The hotel was located at Enoma Street, off Ago-Palace Way, Okota, Isolo, Lagos.
“There, Uwagbale brought 93 wraps of the Class A drug for him to swallow at about 23:45pm, Friday night.
“They were in the process when NDLEA operatives who have been on their trail stormed their hotel room.
“The NDLEA operatives arrested both and recovered the drug exhibits with a total weight of 1.427 kilograms,” Babafemi stated.
He said the NDLEA operatives, Lagos State Command, who made the arrest and seizure had earlier raided Akala in Mushin.
Babafemi further stated that the operatives recovered 37.5kg cannabis from the home of a fleeing suspect during the raid.
Meanwhile, attempts to smuggle into the country 98 cartons, containing 5,122,900million pills of tramadol 225mg have been thwarted.
The illicit drug, with an estimated street value of about N3.7billion, was taken through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja.
It was frustrated by combined men of the Nigeria Customs Service, NDLEA officers at the airport, and at the DHL Cargo Warehouse.
“Preliminary findings revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan. Some of the seized consignments had Freetown, Sierra Leone as final destination,” it was stated.
Also, NDLEA operatives in Bauchi State, last Wednesday, recovered a total of 6,265,080 million pills of opioids from three suspects.
The suspects, Emmanuel Onyebuchi (32); Uche Iyida (33); and Chinedu Ezeanyim (32) were arrested. A truck driver and his assistant at Shopping Complex, Maiduguri Bye-Pass, Bauchi Town were also arrested.
In another development, no fewer than 999,500 tablets of Exol-5 were also recovered in Adamawa State. The tablets were recovered by operatives from a shop close to the market at Hong Road, Gombi, last Friday.
46,000 capsules of tramadol were also seized from a suspect, Paul Ajaegbu (36), along Owerri-Aba Road, Imo State, last Monday.
Same suspect was said to have earlier been arrested, last February, for the same offence.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives in their numbers stormed the Ofosu Forest. They destroyed 29 hectares of cannabis farm there, last Thursday.
Owner of the farm, Osamezu George Chukwuemeka (51), his wife Kate Osamezu (43); Agboola Wasiu (37) and Mustapha Sanni were arrested.
This was as processed cannabis, weighing 118.5kg, was also recovered from the farm during the operation.
Not less than 107 jumbo bags of the same illicit substance, weighing 1,132.5kg, were recovered in another raid, last Monday.
The 1,132.5kg cannabis was recovered at the warehouse of a suspect at Elegbeka, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State.
A suspect, Charles Nwankwo (50), was arrested with 610kg of cannabis in Tamaje area of Sokoto, Sokoto State, last Friday.
Also in Yobe State, same day, a fleeing suspect Shaibu Musa (29), was arrested in Dawasa by NDLEA operatives.
He was arrested while offering them a bribe of N500,000 following the seizure of 36kg skunk in his house, last Wednesday.
In Edo State, operatives, last Monday, raided the Utese Forest, Ovia North-East Local Government Area.
A suspect, Victor Asukwo Jack, was arrested with 59 bags of processed cannabis sativa, weighing 640kg.
His two cannabis farms, measuring 1.489895 hectares and 2.445295 hectares, were destroyed.
Also, Endurance Chukwuma (50), was arrested with seven bags of processed cannabis sativa weighing 68kg.
His cannabis farm, measuring 0.254324 hectares, was destroyed, Babafemi further stated in the release.
Cannabis weighing 273kg was earlier intercepted in a Toyota Sienna Vehicle marked RBC 451 CM, last Wednesday. A suspect, Lucky Oriakhi (41), was arrested.
48,380 pills of tramadol in a commercial bus marked KAK 66 XA were seized along Ewohimi Road, Kogi State. Ibrahim John, the driver of the bus heading to Kabba, was arrested.
Two suspects: Abubakar Suleiman (30) and Shehu Garba, aka Shagari (29), were arrested along Keffi-Akwanga Road, Nasarawa State, last Tuesday.
The two suspects were caught with a Peugeot J5 vehicle loaded with 1,608.4 kilograms of cannabis sativa. The consignment was loaded in Edo State and was meant for distribution in Bauchi State.
A total of 1,556.1kg of cannabis was recovered from two suspects, Jonathan Nuhu (54) and Mohammed Abubakar (18). The duo were arrested at Wudil area of Kano State, last Thursday.
76kg of same substance was seized from Yakubu Muhammad (32), last Monday, along Okene/Lokoja Highway in a trailer. The trailer was coming from Port Harcourt to Kano.
In the same vein, operatives in Ogun State, last Wednesday, recovered 810 parcels of cannabis, weighing 604kg from the house of one Adetunji Abiodun.
Fresh bid to smuggle into Nigeria, another consignment of Colorado, a synthetic variant of cannabis, was frustrated last Friday.
NDLEA officers discovered the illicit substance, taken through the Tincan Port, Apapa, Lagos.
323 parcels of the illicit substance, weighing 161.5kg, were concealed in one of the four used vehicles in a container.
The container, marked MEDU 7519460, coming from Montreal, Canada, was intercepted during a joint examination of the shipment.
At least, three suspects are currently in NDLEA custody over the shipment. A bribe of N20 million converted to $22,900 offered operatives by the importer’s agents was recovered and documented as evidence.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has commended them for jobs well done.
The NDLEA boss was impressed by the volume of arrests and seizures made in the past week.
He urged them and their counterparts across the country to continue the synergy with other security agencies and stakeholders. He also asked them not to relent in the fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
