Charles Uwagbale: Notorious drug kingpin busted by NDLEA in Lagos Hotel

LAGOS, NIGERIA – Charles Uwagbale, a 48-year-old drug kingpin notorious for sponsoring young Nigerians to traffic cocaine to Europe, was apprehended by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) during a late-night raid on Friday, July 21, in a hotel room in the Okota area of Lagos State. The arrest took place as Uwagbale was preparing one of his recruited couriers, Uju Dominic, 35, to swallow 93 pellets of cocaine meant for distribution in Italy.

Uju Dominic had been enlisted by Uwagbale from his base in Italy, agreeing to come to Nigeria, ingest 100 pellets of cocaine, and return to Italy on Saturday, July 22. The mule was accommodated in the Golden Heaven Hotel, located at Enoma Street, off Ago-Palace Way, Okota, Isolo, Lagos.

At approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, swooped in on the hotel room while the process of ingesting the Class A drug was underway. The operatives successfully arrested both Uwagbale and Dominic and confiscated the drug exhibit, which weighed 1.427 kilograms.

In addition to this significant arrest, the NDLEA has made commendable efforts in intercepting other drug-related activities. In a raid on the Akala neighborhood of Mushin on Thursday, July 20, the agency recovered 37.5 kilograms of cannabis from the residence of a fleeing suspect.

The agency also foiled an attempt to smuggle an astonishing 98 cartons containing 5,122,900 pills of Tramadol 225mg, with an estimated street value of N3.7 billion, into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The concealed consignment was discovered by NDLEA and Nigeria Customs Service officials at the airport and the DHL cargo warehouse. The investigation revealed that the consignments were imported from India and Pakistan, with some destined for Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The fight against drug trafficking extended to other states as well. In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives recovered 6,265,080 pills of opioids from three suspects on Wednesday, July 19. The suspects, Emmanuel Onyebuchi (32), Uche Iyida (33), and Chinedu Ezeanyim (32), were arrested along with a truck driver and his assistant at Shopping Complex, Maiduguri Bye-Pass, Bauchi town.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives seized 999,500 tablets of Exol-5 from a shop near the market at Hong Road, Gombi, on Friday, July 21. Additionally, 46,000 capsules of tramadol were confiscated from a suspect named Paul Ajaegbu (36) along Owerri-Aba Road, Imo State, on Monday, July 17. It was discovered that Ajaegbu had been arrested for the same offense earlier on February 9, 2023.

The agency’s continued efforts led them to Ondo State, where operatives stormed the Ofosu forest and destroyed 29 hectares of cannabis farms on Thursday, July 20. Four individuals were arrested during the operation, and 118.5 kilograms of processed cannabis were recovered from the farm. Another raid in Elegbeka, Ose LGA, resulted in the seizure of 107 jumbo bags of illicit substance weighing 1,132.5 kilograms on Monday, July 17.

Other states were not exempt from the crackdown. In Sokoto State, NDLEA operatives arrested Charles Nwankwo (50) with 610 kilograms of cannabis in the Tamaje area of Sokoto on Friday, July 21. Meanwhile, in Yobe State, a fleeing suspect, Shaibu Musa (29), was nabbed in Dawasa after attempting to bribe anti-narcotic agents with N500,000 following the seizure of 36 kilograms of skunk in his house on Wednesday, July 19.