NDLEA smashes syndicate, arrests 5 members

An international drug syndicate with networks in Nigeria, South Africa and Thailand, has been smashed by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement, said that five members of the cartel were arrested.

He said that their arrest followed a two-week intelligence operations in Lagos, Abia and Anambra states after the seizure of their illicit drug consignments at the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

He explained that, “The unravelling of the drug cartel started on Sunday, 20th April, when their cargo of four big suitcases arrived the NAHCO shed on an Air Peace flight from Johannesburg, South Africa.

“After days of close monitoring and investigation, the first suspect, Umeh Chisom Peter, was arrested on Wednesday, 24th April, after he showed up to pick two of the suitcases containing Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, owned by a Thailand-based member of the syndicate, Obum Michael.

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“The consignment of four parcels was concealed in false bottoms of the two suitcases, while the four suitcases contained a total of 17.6 kilogrammes of Loud and drug candies.”

He further said another member of the syndicate, Mrs Chiwendu Uche Ugbe, whose South Africa-based husband, Aloytus Uche Ugbe, sent some of the consignments to, was traced to Anambra State where NDLEA officers arrested her on Saturday, April 27, while attempting to collect the drug parcels sent to her by her husband.

Two other suspects, Onyejakor Francis Chimezie and Naaji Valentine Chukwukere, with links to the cartel, were also arrested in parts of Lagos on Monday April 29.

He said, “Their arrest led to another operation in Abia State where Mrs Chinazo Osigwe was arrested when she was to pick up some of the parcels containing Loud and drug candies sent by her husband, Osigwe Chidiebere Anthony, who is equally operating from South Africa.”