NDLEA arrests Lagos drug lord as mule about to swallow 93 wraps of cocaine

A notorious drug lord who specializes in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffic cocaine to Europe was recently caught red-handed when National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers stormed his hotel room in Okota area, Lagos State late Friday, July 21, as he prepared a recruited courier to swallow 93 cocaine pellets for distribution in Italy .

48-year-old drug lord 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.

Upon arrival in Nigeria, the mule was lodged at Golden Heaven Hotel, located at Enoma Street, near Ago-Palace Way, Okota, Isolo, Lagos.

Uwagbale had brought 93 envelopes of the Class A drug to his room for him to swallow at around 11:45 p.m. on Friday.

The process was underway when NDLEA agents, who were on their trail following credible intelligence, stormed their hotel room.

The suspects were arrested and the drug exhibit, weighing 1.427 kg, was recovered from them.

Similarly, officers from the Agency's Lagos State Command who made the arrest had earlier on Thursday, July 20, raided the Akala area of ​​Mushin, where 37.5 kg of cannabis had been recovered from the home of a fugitive suspect.

The counter-narcotics agency also thwarted the effort to smuggle 98 cartons containing 5,122,900 Tramadol 225mg tablets, with an estimated street value of N3.7 billion, into Nigeria via Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

The concealed shipment was discovered by NDLEA and Nigeria Customs Service officers at the airport and at the DHL cargo warehouse. Preliminary findings revealed that the shipments were imported from India and Pakistan, while some of the seized shipments had Freetown, Sierra Leone as their final destination.

Similarly, NDLEA officers in Bauchi State also recovered 6,265,080 opioid tablets from three suspects: 32-year-old Emmanuel Onyebuchi, 33-year-old Uche Iyida, and 32-year-old Chinedu Ezeanyim.

The three suspects were arrested alongside a truck driver and his assistant at Shopping Complex, Maiduguri Bye-Pass, Bauchi City on Wednesday, July 19.

As many as 999,500 tablets of Exol-5 were also recovered by NDLEA officers from a store near Hong Road Market, Gombi, Adamawa State on Friday July 21. 023, for the same offence.

In Ondo state, NDLEA agents stormed the Ofosu forest, where they destroyed 29 hectares of cannabis farms on Thursday, July 20. The Osamezu Quartet George Chukwuemeka, 51, farm owner; his wife, Kate Osamezu, 43; Agboola Wasiu, 37; and Mustapha Sanni, were arrested during the operation, while 118.5 kg of processed cannabis were recovered from the farm.

In another search of a suspect's warehouse in Elegbeka, Ose LGA, no less than 107 giant bags of the same illicit substance weighing 1,132.5 kg were recovered on Monday, July 17.

In Sokoto State, NDLEA officers arrested a suspect, Charles Nwankwo, 50, with 610 kg of cannabis in the Tamaje area of ​​Sokoto on Friday, July 21, while their counterparts in Yobe also arrested a fugitive suspect, Shaibu Musa, 29, in Dawasa. Musa had offered anti-narcotics officers a 500,000 naira bribe following the seizure of 36kg of skunk from his house on Wednesday July 19.

In Edo State, agency officers raided Utese Forest in Ovia North East LGA, where they arrested Victor Asukwo Jack with 59 bags of processed cannabis sativa weighing 640 kg, on Monday July 17.

His two cannabis farms, measuring 1.49 hectares and 2.5 hectares, were destroyed.

In addition, Endurance Chukwuma, 50, was arrested with seven bags of processed cannabis sativa weighing 68 kg, while his cannabis farm measuring 0.25 hectares was destroyed.

A total of 273 kg of cannabis was also intercepted in a Toyota Sienna vehicle registered RBC 451 CM on Wednesday July 19 in Ogida, Benin City, and a suspect, Lucky Oriakhi, 41, was arrested.