The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested four Nigerian drug barons and a Jamaican in a well-coordinated and intelligence-led operation that lasted two days across different locations in Lagos, where 1.8tons (1,855 kilograms) of illicit drugs worth over $278,250,000, an equivalent of about N194.7bn in street value were seized.
The agency made this announcement on Monday, 19 September, 2022, after they busted a major warehouse located at 6, Olukuola Crescent inside Solebo Estate in Ikorodu, Lagos.
The barons were picked by the NDLEA from hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between Sunday night and Monday.
In what appears to be the highest cocaine seizure in Nigeria’s history, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement, said, “They are all members of an international drug syndicate that the agency has been trailing since 2018.
According to Babafemi “Preliminary investigation reveals the class A drugs were warehoused in the residential estate from where the cartel was trying to sell them to buyers in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. They were stored in 10 travel bags and 13 drums.”
Kingpins of the cocaine cartel now in custody include Messrs Soji Jibril, 69, an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo state, Emmanuel Chukwu, 65, who hails from Ekwulobia, Anambra state, Wasiu Akinade, 53, from Ibadan, Oyo state, Sunday Oguntelure, 53, from Okitipupa, Ondo state, and Kelvin Smith, 42, a native of Kingston, Jamaica.
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