The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) says it has dismantled a trans-border drug cartel and arrested five leaders of the syndicates operating in parts of the world.
A statement issued to newsmen by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja said the drug were seized in a special operation that lasted weeks in which different quantities of skunk, methamphetamine and ephedrine were recovered.
He said air compressors used to conceal and distribute them globally were recovered during the operations.
He also said the special operation came on the heels of a warning by the NDLEA Chairman, retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, that drug barons and cartels would have it rough in 2023 if they failed to back out of the criminal business.
According to him, leaders of the cartel are spread across Dubai, UAE; Cotonou, Benin Republic; Togo; Oman, Thailand and Europe as well as Lagos, Imo and Onitsha in Nigeria.
Babafemi said a total of 27.50kgs of skunk were taken out of the air compressors after welding equipment were used to cut them open.
He added that further investigations revealed that the freight agent was working for a bigger organised criminal group.
According to him, as a result, extensive operational tools were deployed to track the first kingpin, Peter Obioma, who lives in Benin Republic and Togo but comes occasionally to do business in Lagos.
Babafemi said Obioma’s statement led to the unraveling of two other leaders of the cartel: Dubai-based Ugo Kelechi Alex (aka KC) and Iwueke Ugochukwu (aka Odugwu), an Onitsha-based businessman.
Babafemi said that a well-coordinated operation was thereafter carried out on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at their ancestral homes in Umuobi village, Igbejere community, Ihitte-Uboma LGA, Imo State.
He said that the arrow head of the cartel identified as Obinna Ezenwekwe, an automobile parts dealer at Alaba International market, Lagos, was put under surveillance.