NDLEA nabs 3 kingpins, intercepts Oman-bound drugs

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested three members of a criminal organisation which specialises in illicit drug trafficking across Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Europe and America.

Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement, said that the three suspects were arrested two months of after their being declared wanted following the recent seizure of the single largest consignment of heroin at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

He explained that, “A total of 51.90kg of heroin was recovered from the members of the cartel in an operation that began 10th February, 2024, at the SAHCO Import Shed of the airport’s cargo terminal.

“The consignment was concealed in 15 cartons of 2,300-watt metal cutting machines, with not less than 45 blocks of the illicit substance weighing 49.70kg recovered from the equipment, while additional 2.2kg was seized at the syndicate’s warehouse in the Ayobo area of Lagos.”

He said while the agency secured an interim forfeiture court order on hotels, mansions, vehicles and funds traced to members of the syndicate after arresting four of them, a manhunt was also launched for others who went underground and that the effort paid off on Friday April 19, when two of the wanted kingpins, Onyinyechi Irene Igbokwuputa and Frankline Uzochukwu, were arrested in Lagos and Awka, Anambra State, respectively.

He further said that another wanted member of the syndicate, Osita Emmanuel Obinna, was equally nabbed in Lagos.

Similarly, Babafemi said that the attempt by a suspect, Iheakara Ifeanyichukwu Festus, to export a drug consignment through the Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport to Muscat, Oman, via an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Thursday April 18, was thwarted by NDLEA officers.

He explained that when his luggage was searched, 20 big parcels of hemp weighing 9.80kg were discovered, and that in his statement, the suspect, who lives in Oman and came to Nigeria on April 1, confessed that he was hired to courier the drug with an agreement to be paid N1.2m upon successful delivery in Oman.