A warehouse, located at 6 Olukuola crescent, Solebo estate, Ikorodu, Lagos where about 1.8tons (1,855 kilograms) of the illicit drug worth more than Two Hundred and Seventy Eight Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($278, 250,000) equivalent of about One Hundred and Ninety Four Billion, Seven Hundred and Seventy Five Million (N194, 775,000,000) Naira in street value has been uncovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The illicit drug has been seized by the agency.
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This was disclosed by the agency via its Twitter account on Monday.
At least, four drug barons including a Jamaican and the warehouse manager have been arrested in the coordinated and intelligence led operation that lasted two days across different locations in Lagos state.
Kingpins of the cocaine cartel in custody include: Messrs Soji Jibril, 69, an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo state; Emmanuel Chukwu, 65, who hails from Ekwulobia, Anambra state; Wasiu Akinade, 53, from Ibadan, Oyo state; Sunday Oguntelure, 53, from Okitipupa, Ondo state and Kelvin Smith, 42, a native of Kingston, Jamaica.
They are all members of an international drug syndicate that the Agency has been trailing since 2018.
NDLEA busts cocaine warehouse, seizes N193billion worth of crack in Lagos
…Arrests 4 drug barons, 1 other pic.twitter.com/iMDjzxIgtq
— NDLEA NIGERIA (@ndlea_nigeria) September 19, 2022
The warehouse was raided on Sunday, September 18, 2022, while the barons were picked from hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between Sunday night and Monday, September 19.
Preliminary investigation reveals the class A drugs were warehoused in the residential estate 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 13 drums.
This breakthrough appears to be the biggest singular cocaine seizure in the history of Nigeria’s premier anti-narcotic agency.
