Seized vehicles worth billions of naira rot away at NDLEA facilities

Exotic vehicles seized from suspected drug traffickers by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) estimated to cost several billions of naira are currently rotting away at various facilities belonging to the anti-narcotic agency across the country.

In Badagry, the seized vehicles litter the frontage of the premises of the agency in the Ibereko area. Residents claimed that some of the vehicles had been vandalised with the aid of some officers.

Daily Trust learnt that between January, 2021, and August, 2022, NDLEA froze about 600 accounts and impounded over 249 luxury cars of drug barons.

NDLEA’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the forfeited assets of the drug barons consisted of 249 exotic cars and 37 property scattered across the country.

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Babafemi said the agency was faced with an overwhelming task of drug control in a country with an exceptionally high prevalence of drug use of 14.4 per cent.

Explaining the seizures by the agency in the last 20 months, Babafemi said 286 assets were confiscated and 600 bank accounts frozen.

As at the time of this report, the frontage of the NDLEA facility at Ibereko was completely blocked by the heap of seized vehicles, a good number of which are now mere scraps.

Babafemi in a telephone interview, said the vehicles were to be auctioned but moved out of the compound because of the ongoing construction work.

He said, “You asked about the current state of the vehicles, I said that they are on auction. They were moved out of the compound to where they are parked because of the ongoing construction work.”

Babajide Alani, who operates a small business in the area, said he wondered why NDLEA would allow the seized vehicles to rot away instead of auctioning them and getting revenue for the government.

An auctioneer, Mr Godwin Okafor, of Godwin Udunwa & Company Ltd, said authorities in charge of the NDLEA had commenced the auctioning of the vehicles.

Okafor who spoke to our correspondent on phone, said the committee in charge had concluded their job in Ogun State and that they were currently in Kaduna State and would soon be in Lagos.

He said, “I know that they have started to auction. What they are doing is selling to their staff before they will commence the auction of the seized vehicles.”