Four hundred and forty-three cartons of Tramadol not less than 13,451,466 million pills and worth N8.86 billion in street value have been discovered by operatives of the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) from one of the mansions of a billionaire drug baron, Ugochukwu Nsofor Chukwukadibia.
The discovery was made in the drug baron’s highbrow residential estate at Victoria Garden City, Lekki area of Lagos State.
This led to the arrest of Ugochukwu who is the Chairman of Autonation Motors Limited.
The discovery came barely two months after NDLEA uncovered a methamphetamine clandestine laboratory in the residence of another drug kingpin in the estate, Chris Emeka Nzewi, who was arrested on Saturday, July 30, along with a chemist, Sunday Ukah, who cooked the illicit drug for him.
Disclosing this on Monday, October 3, NDLEA’s Head, Medua and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said that at least, 258.74 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine and various precursor chemicals used for the production of the toxic drug were recovered from Nzewi’s home during his arrest.
“Following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on Friday, September 30, stormed the Plot A45 Road 2 home of the 52-year-old billionaire drug kingpin.
“A search of the expansive mansion led to the discovery of 443 cartons of Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg, which contains 13,451,466 million pills of the drug while some cartons were already burnt in a fire incident in the house same day,” Babafemi said.
Before his arrest, Ugochukwu, who hails from Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, had been on NDLEA’s watch list as one of those behind the tramadol drug cartel in Nigeria.
Preliminary investigation also showed that he has about six mansions within the VGC, one of which he uses as warehouse for the tramadol consignment, while he lives in the one at Plot Z-130 Road 67 and uses another as his office.
Five exotic vehicles had also been located in two of his mansions, out of which two SUVs, including a bulletproof one, had been successfully removed to NDLEA’s facility.
Reacting to the latest drug haul, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men involved in the operation for their diligence while also appreciating Nigerians for supporting the NDLEA in its arduous task of ridding the country of the menace of drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
According to him, “I’ll like to reassure Nigerians and other stakeholders wherever they are located across the country and beyond of our preparedness to work with them on this onerous task of saving our people from the drug scourge.
“This partnership is a further warning to the drug barons and cartels that there is no hiding place for them anymore, because we remain on their trail and we’ll always get them.”
