Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have taken into custody two wanted heads of transnational criminal organisations with multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs and assets seized from them after weeks of intelligence-led operations across the country and outside Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday.
According to Babafemi, the arrest of the wanted drug lords came on the heels of the interception of consignments of cocaine and heroin buried in the bellies of two traffickers heading to Paris in France and Doha in Qatar by NDLEA officers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos on October 10, 2023 succeeded in taking into custody Hakeem Babatunde Salami, the arrowhead of Tajudeen Babatunde Abioye Transnational Criminal Organization, involved in the illicit trade of several narcotics, including Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine and Ephedrine, between Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique and Europe.
Salami fled from Nigeria to South Africa upon the arrest of a member of his syndicate, Suleiman Babatunde Oba, at the Lagos airport on August 25 over an attempt to export 25.10kgs of ephedrine to South Africa.
Salami was however smoked out of hiding through partnership with South African authorities and other intelligence and investigative mechanisms.
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While some of his luxury vehicles have been seized and his home in Surulere, Lagos sealed, other members of the cartel already in custody include Suleiman and Godwin Edet Mathew.
In his statement, he claimed he was into the importation of building materials from China to Nigeria and used to sell gold in South Africa before delving into the illicit drug trade about two years ago.
The head of another cartel, Okafor Ikechukwu Williams, aka Jantu, and his wife, Okafor Ifeyinwa Grace, were also taken into custody on October 5, 2023 when NDLEA operatives raided their hideout at 9, Awa Street, Ago Palace, Okota area of Lagos, where they recovered 27.566 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in a blue box and two sacks, ready for export to Europe and Asia.
Their Lexus RX350 marked ABJ 512 AY parked in the house was also seized during the operation.
Their arrest followed weeks of intelligence gathering about the activities of the criminal network.
At the Abuja airport, operatives on October 6, 2023 arrested a drug trafficker, Nwofor Ejiogu Charles, 45, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Doha.
After a body scan revealed he ingested cocaine, he was placed under observation, during which he excreted 75 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.653kgs.
At the point of his arrest, Nwofor, who was the last passenger to board his flight, offered to compromise an NDLEA officer with $3,000 to free him.
The following day, another trafficker, Nwufo Charles Okwudili, 45, was also arrested while attempting to board Lufthansa Airlines flight LH 0595 to Paris, France via Frankfurt, Germany.
After being put through the body scanner, he was taken into the recovery room, where he excreted 96 wraps of heroin he ingested with a total weight of 1.413kgs.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway on October 10, 2023 intercepted a commercial bus from Lagos to Kano.
A search of the bus led to the seizure of $4,880,000 and CFA57 million suspected to be counterfeits.
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