The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested drug kingpin Charles Uwagbale, who specialises in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffic class A drugs to Europe, especially Italy.
A statement by the spokesperson of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, says Uwagbale was arrested in 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 statement added that the 48-year-old drug kingpin, 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.
The statement reads in part, ” It was a rude shock to a notorious drug kingpin who specialises in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffick Class A drugs to Europe, especially Italy, when operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, 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 arrival in Nigeria, the mule was lodged in the Golden Heaven Hotel located at Enoma Street off Ago-Palace Way, Okota (solo, Lagos), where Uwagbale brought 93 wraps of the Class A drug for him to swallow at about 23:45 p.m. 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 kilogrammes.
“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 37.5 kg of cannabis from the home of a fleeing suspect.
“Meanwhile, attempts to smuggle 98 cartons containing Five Million One Hundred and Twenty Two Thousand Nine Hundred (5, 122, 900) pills of Tramadol 225mg with an estimated street value of about Three Billion Seven Hundred Million Naira (N3.7billion) only into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, 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.
“Preliminary findings revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, while some of the seized consignments had Freetown, Sierra Leone, as their final destination.”
