Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA has made what appears to be the biggest seizure of cocaine in the country’s history.
The agency busted a major warehouse in a secluded estate at 6 Olukuola crescent in the Ikorodu area of Lagos where 1.8tons (1,855 kilograms) of the illicit drug worth more than $278,250,000, equivalent to N194,775,000,000 in street value were seized.
The warehouse was raided on Sunday, September 18, while the barons were picked from hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between Sunday night and Monday, September 19.
Preliminary investigation reveals that 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 also were stored in 10 travel bags and 13 drums.
The kingpins of the cocaine cartel in custody include 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.
A foreign national was also detailed, in what the agency said was a “well coordinated and intelligence-led operation” conducted over two days.
A statement by the spokesman of the agency Femi Babafemi quotes the chairman of NDLEA, Buba Marwa saying “The bust is a historical blow to the drug cartels and a strong warning that the suspects would all go down if they fail to realize that the game has changed”
It also commended the officers and men of the Agency involved in the extensive investigation including those of the American Drug Enforcement Administration, US-DEA.