By Our Correspondent
ABUJA – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has dismantled an international cocaine trafficking cartel allegedly using Nigeria as a transit point to move illicit drugs to the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.
The agency said it arrested the alleged Nigerian leader of the syndicate, Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known as “KC Luxury,” while he was attempting to flee the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), disclosed this while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.
According to Marwa, the operation followed the interception of 184.50 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in a consignment processed through a courier logistics company in Lagos.
He said the cocaine was estimated to have a street value of about N39bn within the cartel’s international distribution network.
Marwa said following the seizure, he ordered the establishment of a Special Investigation Team to unravel the network behind the shipment and identify its couriers, facilitators and masterminds.
He said the investigation, conducted with the cooperation of the management of the courier company, led to the arrest of two key suspects, including a staff member of the logistics firm, Lawal Mujab Kehinde.
According to the NDLEA boss, Kehinde allegedly had a sustained relationship with the cartel’s Nigerian coordinator and was responsible for packaging and processing consignments for the syndicate before routing them to the UK, other European countries and Asia.
He was allegedly paid in cash for his role.
Marwa identified the second suspect as Michael, whom investigators allegedly identified as the Nigerian arrowhead of the cartel.
The NDLEA boss said Michael allegedly used his public profile as a social media influencer and luxury goods dealer to conceal his involvement in cocaine trafficking.
He added that investigations linked the suspect to a drug pipeline allegedly stretching from South America through Nigeria to the UK, Europe and Asia.
Marwa said the suspect was arrested on August 13 after intelligence indicated that he planned to leave Nigeria on a business-class flight to Paris.
He said NDLEA operatives arrested him at the boarding gate of the Lagos airport.
The agency also recovered €7,750, £2,800 and N100,000 in cash from him, alongside expensive jewellery, Marwa said.
A search of his luxury apartment on Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, subsequently led to the recovery of exotic vehicles, according to the NDLEA chairman.
Marwa said further investigation revealed that the cartel allegedly used false identities to conceal the real consignors of its shipments and employed financial facilitators to move billions of naira on its behalf.
He added that the syndicate maintained criminal contacts in the UK, with some of its members already arrested by British authorities in connection with the same operation.
The NDLEA chief described the arrests in Nigeria and the UK as a significant achievement in international cooperation against transnational drug trafficking.
He linked the latest operation to recent NDLEA successes against international drug networks, including the dismantling of the Switzerland-based Simon Amadi drug cartel and the arrest of members of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine syndicates operating clandestine laboratories in Ogun and Oyo states.
Marwa said the latest operation also highlighted the agency’s growing focus on courier and logistics companies allegedly being exploited by traffickers as alternatives to seaports and airports.
He said drug trafficking organisations had increasingly shifted towards courier channels because they considered them less monitored.
Marwa, however, warned that the NDLEA would continue to pursue traffickers regardless of where they operated.
He said, “The dismantling of this cartel, from the interception of the consignment at a courier logistics channel right through to the arrest of its Nigerian arrowhead, is a clear demonstration that this Agency has both the capacity and the capability to fish out traffickers wherever they choose to hide.”
He added that there was no alternative route into or out of Nigeria for illicit drugs that the agency could not police.
Marwa commended the international partners involved in the investigation and members of the Special Investigation Team, coordinated by the Director of Operations and General Investigation, for their professionalism.
He also warned individuals who allegedly used luxury lifestyles, social media influence and wealth to disguise drug trafficking activities that the agency would track them down.
“To those who believe they can hide behind luxury brands, glamorous lifestyles, and social media personas while trafficking poison into our communities and across our borders, this Agency will find you,” he said.
Marwa assured Nigerians that the NDLEA would sustain its efforts to protect communities, particularly young people, and prevent Nigeria from being used as a transit route for illicit drugs.
The disclosure was contained in a statement signed by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, and issued from the agency’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Babafemi said the operation represented one of the agency’s most significant recent investigations and resulted in what the NDLEA described as the largest cocaine seizure linked to a courier company in Nigeria.