Syndicate with tentacles in SA

“He was lodged in one of the rooms and was later summoned by the receptionist to meet a guest, from whom [Chidiebere] had informed him over the phone to receive a package.

Mozambique and mansions

Typically, Nigerian criminal networks are

well organised with an almost militia-style

hierarchy. With the promise of protection and power, secret societies recruit new members

She was the wife of Festus Ibewuike, whom Marwa described as “a top kingpin and currently residing in Mozambique”.

Ibewuike would allegedly send heroin consignments to Ndidiamaka via other syndicate members.

Marwa said the couple’s home in the Ago Palace area of Lagos has been searched.

A vehicle was seized, along with bank and property documents.

Marwa said 107 bank accounts associated with 14 of the syndicate’s members had been frozen as part of the crackdown.

A hotel and a “mansion” linked to Chidiebere, as well as a “mansion” linked to Ibewuike, had also been marked for forfeiture to the government.

Marwa added that NDLEA officers had “shared comprehensive intelligence with our South African counterparts for necessary action regarding the other members of the group living in that country”.

Daily Maverick asked the South African Police Service this week whether it was aware of the heroin crackdown in Nigeria that investigators there had linked to this country.

No response had been received by the time of publication.

Marwa, meanwhile, said the heroin crackdown had parallels to another police operation in Nigeria that happened in September 2022, when police had intercepted a 2,139kg cocaine consignment in a warehouse in the city of Ikorodu.

“That was the single biggest cocaine seizure in the history of NDLEA,” Marwa explained.

“This present bust is the largest single heroin seizure at the [Murtala Mohammed International Airport] so far.”

In the cocaine crackdown of 2022, four alleged drug barons, including one from Jamaica, were arrested.

It was suspected that they were members of an international syndicate that Nigerian police had been tracking since 2018.

‘Protection and power’

In January this year, Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU), flagged Nigeria as a drug conduit.

It said syndicates from there had been known for human trafficking “but in recent years they have also gained a strong foothold in drug trafficking”.

The Europol statement added: “Nigerian drug traffickers are particularly active in transporting and distributing both cocaine and heroin.”

It said a commonly observed modus operandi for transporting drugs in and out of the EU was by air.

“Typically, Nigerian criminal networks are well organised with an almost militia-style hierarchy. With the promise of protection and power, secret societies recruit new members.”

“This sequence of action was confirmed by a review of the CCTV at the hotel.” A few days later, on 22 February, another suspected syndicate member, Confidence Ndidiamaka, also allegedly planned to collect a heroin consignment that police had already intercepted.

Mansions in Nigeria were earmarked for forfeiture by the government during a crackdown on an international heroin trafficking organisation that police say has ties to South Africa.

Igboanugo Ebuka Thankgod was among the suspects arrested when police cracked down on a heroin trafficking syndicate with links to South Africa, Mozambique, the US and Europe.

Two of the people who were arrested in Nigeria last month in connection with a bust of nearly 50kg of heroin, concealed in boxes containing metal cutting machines.