Monday, July 21, 2025 - Operatives of a special operations unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, ending seven years of evading the long arm of the law, even as he was caught attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the Southeast and other parts of the country.
Femi Babafemi, spokesperson of the anti0drug agency, says
Okpara who has been on the wanted list of NDLEA since 2019, was eventually
nabbed at his hideout at 72 Micheal Ojo Street, Isheri in Ojo area of Lagos
state on Sunday 13th July 2025 following the interception of some of his
consignments at 5:45am same day at Ilasamaja along Apapa-Oshodi
expressway.
‘’In the
early morning operation, a team of NDLEA officers acting on credible
intelligence arrested one of Okpara’s couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth
Nnamdi while heading to Onitsha, Anambra state in a white Toyota Sienna
vehicle.
The agency’s
sniffer dogs were subsequently brought in to search the vehicle after which 7.6
kilograms of cocaine and 900 grams of methamphetamine were found hidden in body
compartments of the space bus. A follow up operation was promptly carried out
at Okpara’s hideout in Isheri where additional 1.8kg cocaine and 1.3kg
methamphetamine were recovered from his residence.''
Babafemi mentioned that at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives in a joint operation
with Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) on Wednesday 16th July recovered 7,790 pills of tramadol and rohypnol
from the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, Omoregie Nice Uyiosa. The suspect
who was going to Italy via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines flight claimed he
purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in Italy at higher prices.
In another arrest at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives at
the export shed on Thursday 17th July intercepted 17 parcels of skunk, a strain
of cannabis, weighing 1.70kg concealed in packs of popular cereal, Golden Morn,
going to Pakistan as part of a consolidated cargo. A suspect, Chioba Robert
Uchenna who presented the consignment for shipment was arrested.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 19th July raided
Sarah Sam Hotels located at 115 Ogudu road in Kosofe where different party
drugs are being distributed and sold. The raid followed credible intelligence
and surveillance which confirmed a suspect Obayemi Oyetade as the arrowhead of
the drug network. At the time of the operation, 1.30kg Chocolate Cannabis,
900grams of gummies and 22.9grams of skunk were recovered from Obayemi’s room
in the hotel, which is a 20-room facility run as a family business, housing his
mother and siblings. Other items recovered from the hotel include three
vehicles.
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