***Arrests 4 drug barons, 1 other
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have bursted a major warehouse in a secluded estate in Ikorodu area of Lagos where 1,855 kilograms of the illicit drug worth more than $278, 250,000 equivalent of about N194, 775,000,000 in street value were seized.
Director of Media and Advocacy of the agency Femi Babafemi in a statement issued on Monday described the operation as the biggest singular cocaine seizure in the history of Nigeria’s premier anti-narcotic agency.
According to him, four drug barons including a Jamaican and the warehouse manager have been arrested in the well coordinated and intelligence led operation that lasted two days across different locations in Lagos state.
He listed the Kingpins of the cocaine cartel in custody to 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.
“They are all members of an international drug syndicate that the Agency has been trailing since 2018.”
The warehouse located at 6 Olukuola crescent, Solebo estate, Ikorodu, according to Babafemi was raided on Sunday while the barons were picked from hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between Sunday night and Monday 19th September.
He disclosed that Preliminary investigation show that 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 adding that they were stored in 10 travel bags and 13 drums.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), while commending all the officers and men of the Agency involved in the extensive investigation including those of the American Drug Enforcement Administration, (US-DEA), said the burst 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.