9 minutes ago
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has dismantled a major warehouse at a remote property in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
What the agency calls the “largest” cocaine seizure in the history of the Nigerian anti-narcotics agency.
Officers say they seized 1.8 tons (1,855 kilograms) of illicit drugs worth more than two hundred and seventy-eight million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($278,250,000) equivalent to approximately one hundred and eighty- two billion six hundred and seventy-one million one hundred and twenty-five thousand (182,671,125,000 f cfa) franc cfa.
Authorities arrested at least four drug lords including a Jamaican and a warehouse manager in a well-coordinated, intelligence-led operation that lasted two days at different locations in Lagos State .
Authorities say they have all been members of an international drug syndicate since 2018.
Agents raided the warehouse located in Ikorodu town of Lagos State on Sunday, September 18, 2022, while they captured the Barons in hotels and their hideouts in different locations in Lagos between Sunday evening and Monday, September 19.
The preliminary investigation reveals that the Class A drugs were stored in a residential area from where the cartel was trying to sell them to buyers in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. They were stored in 10 travel bags and in 13 barrels.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa commended all officers and men of the agency involved in this thorough investigation, including those from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (US-DEA) , that this seizure is a historic blow for the drug cartels and a strong warning to others.
