Nigeria's narcotics agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the arrest of a 'drug kingpin' wanted for attempts to ship illicit drug consignments to the United Kingdom.
The wanted drug kingpin was arrested through interdiction operations that led to the seizure of four tons of illicit substances in the past week, the NDLEA's Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday.
According to the statement, the suspect, Obiorah Chigozie Samuel, had been on the wanted list of the agency since September 15, 2023, when a consignment of 1.500kg skunk concealed in flour going to London, UK was intercepted at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. His freight agent, Nworah Adaugo Precious, was arrested.
"Convinced that the 1.500kg consignment had sailed through, Obiorah walked into the Agency’s dragnet on Thursday, September 28, 2023, when he personally brought another tranche of 2.00kg concealed in cartons to the airport for shipment to the UK.
"In his interview, Obiorah claimed he was into shoe sales in Lagos before venturing into the illicit drug business," Babafemi said.
The NDLEA's spokesman said the Federal Capital Territory Command of the NDLEA, on Friday, September 29, 2023, also intercepted an articulated truck with registration number BD G41 XM in the Gwagwalada area. He said the truck was going from Lagos to Kano.
He said, "No less than 1,188 kilograms of skunk loaded at Owo, Ondo state and hidden under cartons of toothpaste were recovered from the truck and its driver, Amafan Fattison, 28, arrested."
The statement also said: "NDLEA officers in Bayelsa state on Wednesday 27th September seized 432kg of the same substance from an abandoned J5 bus along Saipem road, Opolo, Yenagoa. The vehicle was equally recovered from the scene for further investigation.
"In Kano, a septuagenarian grandpa, Ado Mai Unguwa, 70, was arrested on Saturday 30th September with 143.2kg skunk in Dindere village, Tofa LGA, while operatives in Enugu same day recovered 110.6kg of same substance from a locked-up shop at Aria new market.
"Operatives in Lagos also on Saturday 30th September stormed the notorious Idi-Oro drug enclave in Mushin where they seized 212.5kg of cannabis sativa belonging to a wanted drug lord. This is even as NDLEA officers in Kwara state recovered 104kg of skunk from a Toyota Camry car in Offa area of the state, while a Chadian, Mohammed Ibrahim, 25, was nabbed at Mafa checkpoint, Borno state with 11.8kg of the same substance on Monday 25th September.
"In Plateau, the state police command in the spirit of inter-agency collaboration transferred four suspects: Yusuf Akim; Frank Gah; Jackson Ejeh and Joseph Utsu, and 1,978kg cannabis recovered from them to the state command of NDLEA, while in Cross River, operatives on Monday 25th September seized 40,000 ampules of pentazocine injection from two suspects - Fajulugbe Adeshola Temitayo, 35, and Nnaorji Agwe Solomon, 54, at Mobil by MCC road, Calabar.
"Also in Kogi state, NDLEA officers on Wednesday 27th September arrested a suspect, Ifeanyi Odoh, 25, with 59,867 pills of opioids including Tramadol and 4.03kgs cannabis sativa at Idah area of the state."