Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), have dismantled a trans-border drug cartel and arrested five leaders of the syndicates operating in parts of the world.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja. Babafemi said that the drugs were seized in a special operation that lasted weeks during which different quantities of skunk, methamphetamine and ephedrine were recovered.
He said that air compressors used to conceal and distribute them globally were recovered during the operations.
He also said that the special operation came on the heels of a warning by the NDLEA Chairman, retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, that drug barons and cartels would have it rough in 2023 if they failed to back out of the criminal business.
According to him, leaders of the cartel are spread across Dubai, UAE; Cotonou, Benin Republic; Togo; Oman, Thailand and Europe as well as Lagos, Imo and Onitsha in Nigeria.
He said that their lid was blown open on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, when their freight agent, Collins Onyeisue, was arrested by NDLEA officers and he was arrested at the Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc (SAHCO) export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Babafemi said that a total of 27.50kgs of skunk were taken out of the air compressors after welding equipment were used to cut them open. He added that further investigations revealed that the freight agent was working for a bigger organised criminal group.
According to him, as a result, extensive operational tools were deployed to track the first kingpin, Peter Obioma, who lives in Benin Republic and Togo but comes occasionally to do business in Lagos.
Obioma’s statement led to the unraveling of two other leaders of the cartel: Dubai-based Ugo Kelechi Alex (aka KC) and Iwueke Ugochukwu (aka Odugwu), an Onitsha-based businessman.
He said that the arrow head of the cartel identified as Obinna Ezenwekwe, an automobile parts dealer at Alaba International market, Lagos, was put under surveillance.
After so many dramatic bids to evade arrest, NDLEA operatives eventually pinned Obinna down at a bar in Mazamaza, Mile 2 area of Lagos on Saturday, 14th January.
A search of his home led to the recovery of 607 grams of ephedrine, a handful of Cannabis weighing 20 grams as well as other paraphernalia.
This also includes 271 grams of dimethyl sulfone used as a cutting agent for ephedrine, a chemical precursor and an active ingredient for the production of methamphetamine.
