The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has secured a seven-year jail term for Alhaji Surajo Mohammed, a notorious drug dealer in the Alaba Rago area of Ojo, Lagos.
According to a statement released on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesperson, Mohammed was sentenced by a Federal High Court in Lagos, presided over by Justice Yellin Dogoro.
The conviction came about 10 months after the drug dealer was arrested by the agency. Mohammed was arrested with 941.15kg cannabis on December 20, 2021, and arraigned in court.
In his judgment delivered on October 6, Dogoro gave the convict an option of N7 million fine.
The agency also announced the seizure of 2,465,000 tablets of tramadol with an estimated street value of N1,040,000 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, by operatives of the agency.
“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,” Babafemi stated.
“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.”
The seizure came barely a week after about 13.5 million pills of the same opioid, worth over N8.8 billion, were recovered by NDLEA operatives from one of the mansions of a billionaire drug baron in Victoria Garden City, VGC, Lekki, Lagos.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
