Abuja (Nigeria): The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two drug kingpins, Victor Nwosa and Felix Obiegbu, for drug trafficking.
This is contained in a statement by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi stated that the suspects were apprehended by operatives of the NDLEA’s Special Operations Unit (SOU).
This, he said, was after consignments of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine being prepared for export to Europe and beyond were recovered from their Lagos homes.
This, he added, were the following weeks of intelligence and surveillance on their criminal networks.
Babafemi, however, stated that the 64-year-old Nwosa presented himself as a successful textile merchant, adding that the 49-year-old Obiegbu was known to many as a businessman involved in wine distribution.
According to him, beneath their outward appearance is their hidden illicit drug business, unearthed by NDLEA operatives after months of intelligence gathering on the two syndicates led by them.
“At the time they were preparing their consignments for export, NDLEA-SOU operatives who had for months put them under surveillance, swooped on them in different parts of Lagos.
“Nwosa was arrested on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at his 16 Femi Kila Street, Okota home, where 4.33 kilograms of heroin and 448 grams of cocaine were recovered during a search of his house.
“In his case, Obiegbu was arrested on Thursday, Sept. 11, at his 5 Shada Shonefun Street, Aguda Surulere home, where in the course of a search, 2.902 kilograms of methamphetamine were uncovered and seized,” he said.
Meanwhile, Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives stopped attempts by suspected suppliers of illicit drugs to terrorists and bandits in Borno and Yobe to move illegal drugs concealed in the engine compartment of a Mercedes-Benz jeep.
Babafemi also stated that a lady’s travelling bag was intercepted by NDLEA operatives during stop-and-search operations in the two states.
According to him, in Borno, following weeks of intelligence, NDLEA officers arrested Kaka Ibrahim, 26, at Njimtilo village on Saturday, Sept. 2, while he was driving a Mercedes-Benz GLK marked JRE 987 AE towards the Damaturu road.
“A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 39,380 pills of tramadol 225mg and Exol-5 stuffed in the engine compartment of the jeep.
“The same day in Yobe state, NDLEA operatives intercepted a lady, Halima Adamu, along the Damaturu-Maiduguri road.
“This is where 39 parcels of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 1.4kg, were found concealed inside the casing of her travelling bag.
“A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of another lady linked to the consignment, Habiba Muhammad, at her Baga road, Maiduguri home,” he said.
