NDLEA apprehends Lagos drug boss as mule about to ingest 93 cocaine wraps

A notorious drug kingpin who specialised in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffic cocaine to Europe was recently apprehended when operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) stormed his hotel room in the Okota area of Lagos State late on Friday, July 21, as he was preparing a recruited courier to swallow 93 pellets of cocaine meant for distribution in Italy.

Charles Uwagbale, 48, had recruited Uju Dominic, 35, from his base in Italy with an agreement to come to Nigeria, consume 100 pellets of cocaine on Friday, July 21, and return to Italy on Saturday, July 22.

When the mule arrived in Nigeria, he was kept at the Golden Heaven Hotel, which is located at Enoma Street, off Ago-Palace Way, Okota, Isolo, Lagos.

Uwagbale had brought 93 wraps of the Class A substance to his room for him to swallow at 23:45 p.m. on Friday.

When NDLEA officers invaded their hotel room, the process was still in progress.

The defendants were apprehended, and the drug exhibit, weighing 1.427 kilogrammes, was recovered from them.

Similarly, operatives from the Agency’s Lagos State Command, who conducted the arrest, had earlier stormed the Mushin Akala community on Thursday, July 20, and collected 37.5kg of cannabis from the residence of a fleeing suspect.

The anti-drug agency also foiled an attempt to bring 98 cartons carrying 5,122,900 pills of Tramadol 225mg into Nigeria via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, with an estimated street value of N3.7 billion.

Officials from the NDLEA and Nigeria Customs Service uncovered the hidden shipment at the airport and the DHL cargo warehouse. Preliminary results revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, with part of the seized consignments bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Bauchi State recovered 6,265,080 opioid pills from three suspects: Emmanuel Onyebuchi, 32, Uche Iyida, 33, and Chinedu Ezeanyim, 32.

On Wednesday, July 19, the three suspects were apprehended with a truck driver and his aide at Shopping Complex, Maiduguri Bye-Pass, Bauchi town.

On Friday, July 21, NDLEA agents recovered 999,500 Exol-5 tablets from a business near the market on Hong Road in Gombi, Adamawa State. Similarly, 46,000 tramadol capsules were recovered from a suspect, Paul Ajaegbu, 36, on Monday, July 17 along the Owerri-Aba Road in Imo State. On February 9, 2023, the same defendant was arrested for the same offence.

On Thursday, July 20, NDLEA agents attacked the Ofosu woodland in Ondo State, destroying 29 hectares of cannabis cultivation. Osamezu George Chukwuemeka, 51, the farm’s owner; his wife, Kate Osamezu, 43; Agboola Wasiu, 37; and Mustapha Sanni were detained during the operation, and 118.5 kg of processed cannabis was recovered from the property.

On Monday, July 17, 107 jumbo bags totalling 1,132.5kg were recovered from a suspect’s warehouse in Elegbeka, Ose LGA.

On Friday, July 21, NDLEA agents in Sokoto State apprehended a suspect, Charles Nwankwo, 50, with 610kg of cannabis in the Tamaje region of Sokoto, while their Yobe counterparts apprehended a fleeing suspect, Shaibu Musa, 29, in Dawasa. Musa offered the anti-narcotics officers a payment of N500,000 following the arrest of 36kg of skunk in his home on Wednesday, July 19.

On Monday, July 17, the agency’s officers invaded the Utese woodland in Ovia North East LGA and detained Victor Asukwo Jack with 59 bags of processed cannabis sativa weighing 640kg.

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

Endurance Chukwuma, 50, was also detained with seven bags of processed cannabis sativa totaling 68kg, and his 0.25-hectare cannabis farm was demolished.

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