How NDLEA Smashed Two Drug Cartels, Arrested Nigerian, Chinese Kingpins
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has disclosed that its operatives have successfully dismantled 2 drug syndicates and arrested their kingpins.
The anti-narcotics agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement on Sunday.
He said that the arrest of the the Nigerian head of a cocaine distribution cartel, 42-year-old Ndive Maxwell Obinna, followed a well-coordinated operation carried out by a Special Operations Unit of the agency on Thursday 21st November, 2024. Obinna was arrested along with five of his associates at Ago Palace Way in Okota, Isolo, Lagos, with a total of 2.412 kilograms of cocaine recovered from them.
Other members of the drug trafficking organization arrested along Obinna include: Okeke Gloria Ifeoma who is the syndicate’s stash keeper; Ikechebelu Emmanuel Chibuzor; Okorie Onyedikachi; Okonkwo Nnabugo Prince; and Okafor Blessing Anita.
In a related development, the other drug syndicate, operated by a Chinese man, 58-year-old Tianzhen Yen (alias Jackie) was also dismantled by the anti-narcotics operatives following his arrest at his hotel in Ikeja area of Lagos.
Officers of the Seme Special Area Command of the Agency had on Thursday 21st November intercepted a 40-year-old suspect, Yakubu Emmanuel Mark in a commercial bus going to Ghana at the Gbaji checkpoint along Badagry-Seme expressway based on credible intelligence.
When he was searched, a total of 750grams of cocaine were found in his bag. A swift follow up operation was organized to trace and arrest the kingpin behind the trans-border drug trafficking syndicate, who turned out to be a Chinese citizen, Tianzhen Yen. He was eventually traced to MC Hotel behind Alade market, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. When his hotel room was searched, 4.3grams of cocaine; a gram of methamphetamine; two electronic weighing scales; and a Chinese National Identification Number Card, among other exhibits were recovered while he was arrested in the vicinity of the hotel.
Furthermore, at the Tincan seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday 22nd November intercepted 92 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis with a combined weight of 23.25kg concealed in two vehicles imported from Canada: a Nissan car and a GMC bus.
Babafemi stated that the discovery was made during a joint examination of a container from Canada by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other stakeholders.
In Rivers state, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, on Thursday 21st November intercepted two containers of imported opioids during a joint examination with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
A total of 168,000 bottles of codeine based syrup worth One Billion One Hundred and Seventy Six Million Naira (N1,176,000,000) only in street value, were recovered from one of the containers while the second one contained Four Million Five Hundred Thousand (4,500,000) pills of super royal tramadol 225mg valued at Three Billion One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N3,150,000,000) only, bringing the combined value of both the codeine and tramadol consignments to Four Billion Three Hundred and Twenty Six Million Naira (N4,326,000,000) only.
In Kano, four suspects: Usman Sani, 25; Abdul Mohd, 28; Bunu Ali,27; and Umar Musa, 30, were on Tuesday 19th November arrested by NDLEA operatives at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria- Kano road, with 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 45kg, while Ayuba Umar Zaranda, 55, was nabbed with 124kg cannabis at Pengana village, Toro LGA, Bauchi state.
