TUE, 20 SEPT, 2022-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s anti-narcotics agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have carried out what appears to be the biggest singular seizure of cocaine in the country’s history.
The Agency, Nonday, busted a major warehouse in a secluded estate in Ikorodu area of Lagos where 1.8 tons (1,855 kilograms) of illicit drug worth more than US$278.250 million, equivalent of N194.775 billion in street value were seized.
‘’The bust is a historical blow to the drug cartels and a strong warning that they’ll all go down if they fail to realise that the game has changed,’’ Brig Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, said.
The Agency said at least, four drug barons including a Jamaican and the warehouse manager were arrested in the well-coordinated and intelligence led operation that lasted two days across different locations in Lagos State.
Kingpins of the cartel arrested and in custody include: Soji Jibril, 69, an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo State, Emmanuel Chukwu, 65, from Ekwulobia, Anambra State, Wasiu Akinade, 53, from Ibadan, Sunday Oguntelure, 53, from Okitipupa, Ondo State and Kevin Smith, 42, a native Kingston, Jamaica.
The NDLEA said they are all members of an international drug syndicate that it has been trailing since 2018.
The Agency also disclosed that the raid on the warehouse. Located at 6 Oluuola crescent, Solebo estate, Ikorodu, was carried out Sunday 18th September, 2022, while the barons were picked from hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between Sunday night and Monday 19th September, 2022.
‘’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,’’ the NDLEA said.
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