A notorious drug dealer in Alaba Rago area of Ojo, Lagos, Alhaji Surajo Mohammed, has been convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Yellin Dogoro.
Spokesman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Babafemi said in a statement yesterday that Mohammed was arrested with 941.15kg of cannabis on December 20, 2021.
However, in a judgment delivered on October 6, the judge gave the convict an option of N7 million fine, Babafemi said, adding that attempts by the Tramadol drug cartel to smuggle in over 2,465,000 tablets of the opioid through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos were foiled by operatives of the NDLEA.
He said the drugs had an estimated street value of N1,040,000,000.
Babafemi said the seizure of the drug on October 7 came barely a week after about 13.5million pills of opioids worth over N8.8billion were recovered by NDLEA operatives from one of the mansions of a billionaire drug baron in highbrow Victoria Garden City, Lekki, Lagos.
The statement reads, “Following credible intelligence, the Agency had shown interest in the consignment of 52 cartons that came into Nigeria from Karachi, Pakistan with six different airway bills via Ethiopian Airline flight, comprising seven cartons of 250mg of a brand called tamral and 45 cartons of 225mg, branded as tramaking. Soon after its arrival at the Lagos airport, the NDLEA called for a joint examination of the consignment with other stakeholders and after its information was confirmed by all, the 52 cartons of the seized substance, which are above the recommended threshold for medical use, and banned in the country, were moved to the Agency’s facility.
Read Also: NDLEA seizes N8.8b tramadol from suspected drug baron
“In the same vein, another bid to export, through the airport, 15 parcels of cannabis and 600g of tramadol 225mg concealed in a sack of crayfish to Dubai, UAE was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and subsequently arrested a freight agent, Osahor Alex Ekwueme, who presented it for export.”
“Weeks after NDLEA operatives intercepted 5.20kgs of cannabis concealed in kegs of palm oil going to Dubai at the NAHCO export shed of the airport, the brain behind the consignment, Ifeanyi Egbuwaohia, has been arrested in Igando area of Lagos. Though Ifeanyi works as a technician at Computer Village, Ikeja but beneath his known business he also works with a drug network in Dubai, where he sends illicit drugs for distribution. Few hours after his arrest, another consignment of 2.60kgs of the same substance sent by him for export to Dubai was also intercepted by operatives at the airport.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended operatives of the Agency, urging them to “remain steadfast, resolute and unrelenting until the last gram of illicit drugs is taken away from the streets of Nigeria”.
Also, the NDLEA in collaboration with Ogun State Government has destroyed 15 hectares of Indian Hemp farm in Imosa enclave in Ijebu-East Local Government Area of the state.
Story By
Nicholas Kalu, Abuja and Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta