NDLEA Smashes Drug Cartel

By Simon Ateba

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have smashed a notorious drug trafficking cell operating in the country with stronghold in Pakistan, the agency said in a statement this morning.

NDLEA Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, disclosed that two boutiques have also been sealed off in Lagos and other assets including a Lexus Jeep belonging to the suspected drug barons were also seized.

All four suspected members of the cartel including a clearing and forwarding agent at the Lagos airport as well as three businessmen believed to be the brain behind the illicit drug trafficking gang are being detained by the agency, Mitchell said.

The four suspects were arrested last Friday in connection with the unlawful importation of 2.4 kilogrammes of heroin from Lahore, Pakistan.

The consignment of garments and sports goods with airway bill number 176- 1503 6324 was sent in an Emirate flight. In the airway bill, it was marked a sample shipment with no commercial value but buried right inside it were six parcels of powdery substance found to be heroin weighing 2.4kilogrammes.

The crackdown has exposed the key players of the criminal act who hitherto had used boutique business as a ruse in smuggling illicit drugs.

In his reaction, Chairman/Chief Executive officer of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade vowed to unveil drug barons with more offensive in the offing.

Giade commended the officers over what he described as ‘proactive and thorough investigation’. According to the NDLEA boss, “this is a model case where officers displayed a rare investigative dexterity. All parties to the crime were successfully arrested. Several other cases under intense surveillance are near completion and more barons shall be unveiled. My operational promise to Nigerians is that they will soon know those behind the illicit trade and also see them brought to book”.

A team of investigators have moved in to speedily complete investigation into the case preparatory to the arraignment of all suspects. The NDLEA commander at the Murtalla Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Alhaji Hamza Umar, gave the name of the clearing and forwarding agent as Andrew Omoigui, 38, Monday Paul Edeh, 38, a.ka. Molue, Chidi Ugbaja, 33, and Marcel Chibueze Udeze, 36.

The suspected kingpin of the drug syndicate, Marcel Chibueze Udeze was equally found to have been deported from China twice.

He allegedly conspired with Chidi Ugbaja who once lived in China and Monday Paul Edeh to import the drug. Andrew was said to have demanded for the sum of N1million to clear the goods, having been told that the consignment contained heroin.

The money was however paid into his bank account.

Andrew is a senior clearing and forwarding agent with over 14 years experience. Other members of the cell own boutique business as a cover-up, the agency said.