A historic drug bust in a remote area in Lagos, Nigeria, has left many Nigerians with confidence in the NDLEA, an anti-drug agency that has since carried out several such operations in the last few months.
Officials from the National Drug Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, found their way into the warehouse on a remote property in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, where 1.8 tonnes (1,855 kg) of cocaine was being stored.
The cocaine seized in the field is worth more than two hundred and seventy-eight million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars (US$278,250,000), which is equivalent to approximately one hundred and ninety-four billion, seven hundred and seventy-five million (N194, US $775,000,000) Naira at street value.
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Four dealers, including a Jamaican man and the warehouse manager, were arrested.
Cocaine cartel bosses in custody include Messrs. Soji Jibril, 69, from Ibadan, Oyo State; Emmanuel Chukwu, 65, is from Ekwulobia, Anambra state; Wasiu Akinade, 53, from Ibadan, Oyo State; Domingo Oguntelure, 53, of Okitipupa, Ondo State, and Kelvin Smith, 42, of Kingston, Jamaica.
They are all members of an international drug syndicate that the NDLEA has been following since 2018.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s media director, gave News agencies more details about the incident, saying the warehouse is located at 6 Olukuola Crescent, Solebo Estate, Ikorodu.
Babafemi confirmed that the warehouse was raided on Sunday 18 September 2022, while the barons were detained in hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between Sunday night and Monday 19 September.
He said: “The preliminary investigation revealed that Class A drugs were being stored in the housing project, from where the cartel tried to sell them to buyers in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. “They were stored in 10 bags and 13 barrels.”
