Heroin bust in Nigeria exposes
Police in the West African country make arrests and freeze bank accounts as they crack down on a sprawling drug trafficking network with connections to South Africa, Mozambique, the US and Europe. By
Nigerian police arrested suspects, raided a hotel and froze more than 100 bank accounts in 12 days last month, in a takedown targeting an international heroin trafficking syndicate that has a key base in South Africa.
The operation is the latest police crackdown that exposes drug trafficking links between Nigeria and this country – as well as several other states.
In November, Rohypnol, also known as the date-rape drug, was found hidden in dried fish at OR Tambo International Airport after arriving from Nigeria.
And last month Daily Maverick reported how three port workers, who were allegedly involved in smuggling drugs, pistols, ammunition and military items via Durban, were arrested in Nigeria. Police there believed that three kingpins linked to that syndicate were in South Africa.
Now, in the latest crackdown, police in Nigeria have started unravelling a heroin trafficking syndicate that they say also has ties to this country.
Concealed in cutting machines
Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) issued a statement on 27 February about the heroin syndicate, saying that four suspects had been arrested and 11 others were on the run.
The statement quoted the NDLEA’S chair, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa. He said police sting operations started on 10 February “when NDLEA operatives of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Command intercepted a suspicious package”.
The package was discovered at an import shed at the airport’s cargo terminal.
“[It] was concealed in 15 cartons of 2,300watt metal cutting machines. Each carton was stocked with three blocks of high-grade heroin,” Marwa said.
“In total, we recovered 45 blocks of the illicit substance with a total weight of 49.70kg.”
SA links and an ambush
During follow-up investigations, a freight agent, Olowolagba Wasiu Babatunde, was arrested.
He had been hired for clearing services by a logistics company that Nigerian police said was operated by a South African resident.
A company with the same name as the one
Nigerian police flagged has an address in Kempton Park, Gauteng.
Daily Maverick tried contacting the company via its Facebook page, as no other contact details were advertised, but did not receive a response.
Marwa continued: “Next, we conducted a follow-up operation at the company’s warehouse in the Shogunle area of Oshodi, Lagos, and arrested the warehouse manager, Ajayi Imole Moses.”
A police ambush was then planned, focusing on a person who would have received the heroin consignment if police had not intercepted it.
Interrogation and confession
Marwa said that the target, Adinnu Felix Chinedu, was arrested and “confessed during interrogation that he is the main distributor for a drug syndicate whose membership is spread across Nigeria”.
Chinedu allegedly admitted that he usually transported drug consignments to a warehouse in Ayobo, Lagos.
Marwa said the warehouse “served as a workshop where he would dismantle the consignment and remove the drugs from the machines.
“Thereafter, [Chinedu] would wait for a list of various recipients to be forwarded to him from South Africa by the head of the criminal group.”
Nigerian police searched the warehouse that Chinedu allegedly identified.
By the time we were done exploring various
leads we had, we unravelled an organised
criminal network that operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria and parts of Europe
and America
They discovered 56 more cartons that had previously been used to conceal consignments of heroin trafficked into Nigeria.
Hotel kingpin
“At this point, it was clear that we are dealing with a syndicate that operates in other countries,” Marwa said.
“By the time we were done exploring various leads we had, we unravelled an organised criminal network that operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria and parts of Europe and America.”
During further investigations, the alleged main kingpin of the syndicate was identified. Marwa named him as Reginald Peter Chidiebere, of Nigeria.
“Our investigations showed that he owns the Golden Platinum Hotel and Suite, located at 16 Reginald Peter Chidiebere Street, Hope Estate, Ago Palace.”
As part of the next phase of investigations, the hotel was put under surveillance for several days.
On 19 February the hotel was raided and a suspected drug mule, Igboanugo Chukwuebuka Thankgod, was allegedly found in it with 2.2kg of heroin.
The parcels in which the heroin was concealed were similar to the ones found earlier in the month.
“He readily confessed that he was invited by [Chidiebere] to the hotel [the day before] on Sunday, 18 February 2024,” Marwa said.