Cocaine bust of R4.9bn
IN WHAT Nigerian authorities describe as the country’s biggest drug bust, more than 1 800kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of R4.9bn was seized.
The haul was found in a warehouse in Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said this week.
Four people, including three Nigerians and a Jamaican national, have been arrested, the agency said.
It said they were members of an international drug syndicate that the agency had been trailing since 2018.
The suspects were trying to sell the cocaine to buyers in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.
At least four drug barons and the warehouse manager were arrested in a two-day operation at several locations in Lagos state.
They are Nigerians Soji Jibril, 69, Emmanuel Chukwu, 65, Wasiu Akinade, 53, Sunday Oguntelure, 53, and Kelvin Smith, 42, a native of Kingston, Jamaica.
The agency said the warehouse was raided on Sunday, September 18 and the barons were picked up from hotels and their hideouts in Lagos on the Sunday and Monday.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the class A drugs were stored in the warehouse on a residential estate in 10 travel bags and 13 drums. From there, the cartel was trying to sell them to buyers in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.
The chairperson and CEO of the agency, retired Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the officers and men of the agency involved in the investigation, including those of the American Drug Enforcement
Administration (US-DEA).
He said the bust was a historic blow to the drug cartels and a strong warning that they would all go down if they failed to realise the game had changed.