Alhaji Surajo Mohammed, a known drug dealer in the Ojo, Lagos neighborhood of Alaba Rago, was found guilty and given a seven-year prison term by the Federal High Court in Lagos, which was presided over by Justice Yellin Dogoro.
Femi Babafemi, spokesman for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), stated in a statement yesterday that Mohammed was taken into custody on December 20, 2021, together with 941.15kg of marijuana.
Babafemi added 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 thwarted by operatives of the NDLEA. However, in a judgment handed down on October 6, the judge gave the convict an option of N7 million fine.
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According to him, the drugs had a street worth of N1,040,000,000.
Babafemi claimed that the substance was discovered on October 7 just a week after NDLEA agents seized 13.5 million opioid pills worth more than N8.8 billion from a millionaire drug tycoon’s villa in affluent Victoria Garden City, Lekki, Lagos.
According to the statement, “Following credible intelligence, the Agency had shown interest in the consignment of 52 cartons that arrived in Nigeria from Karachi, Pakistan on a flight operated by Ethiopian Airlines with six different airway bills. The shipment included seven cartons of tamral, a brand of 250 mg tablets, and 45 cartons of tramaking, a brand of 225 mg tablets. The 52 cartons of the seized substance, which are above the recommended threshold for medical use and are prohibited in the country, were moved to the Agency’s facility shortly after the NDLEA requested a joint examination of the consignment with other stakeholders following its arrival at the Lagos airport. After all parties confirmed the NDLEA’s information.
“In the same vein, another attempt 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 foiled by agents who seized the consignment and later detained a freight agent, Osahor Alex Ekwueme, who presented it for export,” the statement continued.
Ifeanyi Egbuwaohia, the mastermind of the shipment, was detained in the Igando neighborhood of Lagos, weeks after NDLEA agents discovered 5.20 kg of cannabis hidden in kegs of palm oil headed for Dubai. Although Ifeanyi is employed as a technician at Computer Village in Ikeja, he also collaborates with a drug network there to distribute illegal substances. A few hours after his detention, agents at the airport also stopped a second shipment of the same material, weighing 2.60kg, that he had sent for export to Dubai.
