The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has thwarted an attempts to smuggle into Nigeria 98 cartons containing 5,122,900 pills of Tramadol 225mg with an estimated street value of about N3.7 billion.
A statement by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi on Sunday in Abuja, said that a suspect was arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) Lagos in connection.
He said that the attempt was foiled 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.
“Preliminary findings revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, while some of the seized consignments had Freetown, Sierra Leone as final destination, ” he said.
Meanwhile, the agency also arrested a drug kingpin, Charles Uwagbale, with 93 wraps of cocaine in Lagos.
The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that the notorious drug kingpin specialized in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffick Class A drugs to Europe especially Italy.
He said that the suspect was shocked when NDLEA operatives stormed his hotel room and arrested him together with a courier in Okota area of Lagos, late on Friday.
Babafemi said the drug lord was preparing a recruited courier to swallow 93 pellets of cocaine meant for distribution in Italy.
He said that the recruited courier, Uju Dominic, 35, came from Italy just to ingest the pellets of cocaine on Friday and return to Italy on Saturday.
“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.
“This is where 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 following credible intelligence stormed their hotel room, arrested both and recovered the drug exhibits with a total weight of 1.427 kilograms, ” he said.
Babafemi also said operatives of the Lagos state Command who made the arrest and seizure, had on Thursday recovered 37.5kg cannabis from the home of a fleeing suspect at Akala in Mushin area of Lagos.
