Nigeria’s anti-narcotics war has scored another major victory as operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled an international cartel moving cocaine across continents, arresting key kingpins and intercepting multi-billion-naira consignments.
The cartel, which operated between Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates, was brought down after a two-week intelligence-led operation in Lagos.
The breakthrough came when NDLEA officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport intercepted a shipment of 76 cartons of lace materials bound for Sydney, Australia.
Hidden inside were 16 blocks of cocaine weighing nearly 18 kilograms and laced with local charms for “spiritual protection.”
The consignment, worth over N5.3 billion in street value, marked the beginning of a dragnet that netted the syndicate’s leaders.
One of them, identified as Muaezee Ademola Ogunbiyi, was arrested in Ikeja GRA.
A raid on his Lekki residence according to a statement by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi uncovered parcels of Canadian Loud cannabis, ammunition, and a pump-action rifle.
He said, another kingpin, Shola Adegoke recently deported from the UK after a methamphetamine conviction, was arrested in the gang’s Ikeja GRA drug hub.
Investigations revealed the cartel’s mastermind, Adebisi Ademola Omoyele, alias Mr. Bee, operates from Dubai, coordinating overseas distribution.
NDLEA’s sweep extended beyond Lagos. In Rivers State, a container disguised as ceramic sanitary wares was found packed with 160,200 bottles of codeine syrup, valued at over N1.1 billion.
In Abuja, a dispatch rider was caught ferrying Colorado cannabis, while in Kogi, Anambra, Niger, and Edo states, operatives intercepted hundreds of kilograms of skunk in daring highway raids. In Taraba, entire cannabis farms spanning 7.5 hectares were destroyed, with the owners arrested.
The clampdown also netted smaller traffickers, including a Nigerian based in Milan caught at Lagos airport with 24,480 tramadol pills concealed in his luggage and a couple in Ajegunle, Lagos, found hiding nearly 25 kilograms of cannabis in their home.
NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi described the operation as one of the agency’s most sweeping crackdowns yet, exposing a cartel with deep transnational roots and a history of hardened criminals, including ex-convicts for murder and drug crimes abroad.
Reporting By Nosa Aituamen