Chiemelie Ezeobi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently said its operatives intercepted a record breaking heroine consignment imported into the country by a syndicate operating across three continents.
It said the operatives also arrested 10 suspects in the operation that lasted nine days, saw the blocking of 109 bank accounts and N119 million; sealing of hotels and mansions in the Ago Palace Way area of Lagos.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) gave details of the operation at a news conference held in Lagos.
According to Marwa, the illicit Class A drugs totalling 51.90kg were carefully packaged, well labeled and concealed inside cutting machines billed for delivery at the cartel’s warehouse in the Ipaja area of the state.
With a street value of £100,000 per kilo, the seized 51.90kg drugs are estimated to be worth of £5,190,000.
Addressing newsmen at the NDLEA NAHCO office, Marwa said the seizure was similar to the September 2022 Ikorodu seizure which was also the highest single interception of cocaine by the agency.
Marwa said while 49.7kgs of the substance was intercepted by the operatives at rhe airport, an additional 2.2kgs were recovered from a suspected mule, ThankGod Igboanugo, at the hotel of the alleged cartel leader, Reginald Peter Chidiebere at Ago Palace Way, Okota.
He chronicled the steps the operatives took and how the agency’s sniffer dogs were handy in discovering the crime.
According to Marwa, the agency had already contacted its counterpart in South Africa in order to get leaders of the cartel who are resident in that country and Mozambique.
He said: “The major development that warranted this special briefing today pertains with the seizure of what is now the single largest seizure of heroin in the history of NDLEA in the Muritala Mohammed International Airport.
“I will give a brief recap in chronological order of how we came about the seizure of 51.90 kilograms of this class A drug.
“It started on February 10, when NDLEA operatives of the Muritala Mohammed International Airport intercepted a suspicious package at the SAHCO import shed of the airport’s cargo terminal. The consignment was concealed in 15 cartons of 2300-watt metal cutting machines.
“Each carton was stocked with three blocks of high-grade heroin. In total, we recovered 45 blocks of the illicit substance with a total weight of 49.70kg.
“After the discovery, we were methodical and meticulous in our investigations. We started with the arrest of the freight agent whose name is Olowolagba Wasiu Babatunde.
” It turned out that he was hired for clearing services by Mattpee Logistics, a company operated by one Mr. Kola resident in South Africa.
“Next, we conducted a follow up operation at the company’s warehouse in the Shogunle area of Oshodi, Lagos, and arrested the warehouse manager, whose name is Ajayi Imole Moses.
“Thereafter, we set up an ambush for the expected receiver of the consignment who was duly arrested when he showed up for collection.
” This receiver, whose name is Adinnu Felix Chinedu, confessed during interrogation, that he is the main distributor for a drug syndicate whose membership is spread across Nigeria.
“He admitted that he usually conveyed the consignment to a dedicated warehouse located in the Ipaja area of Lagos.
“That place served as a workshop where he would dismantle the consignment and remove the drugs from the machines.
“Thereafter, he would wait for a list of various recipients to be forwarded to him from South Africa by the head of the criminal group.
” Our operatives did due diligence by conducting a thorough search of the warehouse which led to the recovery of 56 similar cartons of the cutting machines that were used previously as modes of concealment to ferry heroin into Nigeria.
“At this point, it was clear that we are dealing with a syndicate that operates in other countries. By the time, we were done exploring various leads we had, we unravelled an organised criminal network that operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria and parts of Europe and America.
“This syndicate has a wide network in Nigeria because the consignments we seized were marked with several codenames, showing that they belonged to different members of this organised criminal group.
“Furthermore, in our follow-up operation, we uncovered from the suspect a long list of receivers of illicit drugs. In the end, we were able to identify the kingpin of the syndicate here in Nigeria and his name is Reginald Peter Chidiebere.
“Our investigations showed that he owns the Golden Platinum Hotel and Suite, located at 16 Reginald Peter Chidiebere Street, Hope Estate, Ago Palace…”
Continuing, Marwa said operatives mounted surveillance at the hotel which led to a raid last Monday, February 19, where Igboanugo was arrested with 2.2kgs of heroin with codes similar to the ones found on the seized drug shipment.
“He readily confessed that he was invited by Mr. Reginald Peter Chidiebere to the hotel on Sunday, February 18, 2024. He was lodged in one of the rooms and was later summoned by the receptionist to meet a guest, from whom Reginald Peter Chidiebere had informed him over the phone to receive a package.
“This sequence of action was confirmed by a review of the CCTV at the hotel”, Marwa said.
According to him, the NDLEA had frozen 107 bank accounts linked to 14 members of the cartel, as well as N119,582,928.31 found in some of the already traced bank accounts.
The NDLEA chief said the hotel and a mansion owned by the head of the syndicate in Nigeria, Reginald Peter Chidiebere and another mansion linked to the head of the syndicate in Mozambique, Festus Ibewuike located in Ago Palace Way had already been marked for forfeiture to the Federal Government.
He said the measure yielded further fruit last Thursday, February 22, when a female member of the syndicate and wife of Festus Ibewuike, Mrs. Confidence Ndidiamaka Ibewuike, who was one of those to collect part of the consignment from Adinnu Felix Chinedu, was arrested at Ago Palace area.
“When they were brought face to face, he (Adinnu Felix Chinedu) immediately identified her as one of the members of the criminal syndicate who had received similar packages of heroin with the syndicate’s logo from him on two different occasions.
“Though she denied knowing Adinnu or receiving anything from him before, investigation later revealed how her husband identified as Festus Ibewuike, a top kingpin and currently residing in Mozambique used to send drug consignments to her through Adinnu Felix Chinedu.
“With pictorial evidence of different parcels with different codes and using other methodologies, we were able to confirm several instructions from her husband regarding illicit drug shipments already collected before.
“A search was promptly conducted in their residence located at the Ago Palace area, where a Toyota Venza car was recovered as well as several documents including, bank and property documents belonging to Festus Ibewuike.”
“Their mansion in Ago Palace area has also been marked for forfeiture to the Federal Government.
“NDLEA has shared comprehensive intelligence with our South African counterparts for necessary action regarding the other members of the group living in that country.
“There is a parallel between this seizure and the September 18, 2022 seizure of 2,139.5kg cocaine in an Ikorodu warehouse. That was the biggest singular cocaine seizure in the history of NDLEA. “This present bust is the largest single heroin seizure at the MMIA so far,” said Marwa..
He assured that the NDLEA would not relent in its onslaught against brug barons and their criminal networks in order to uproot the drug pipelines in the country.
“To this end, we have arrested 48 barons in three years, 15 of whom are already serving jail terms while the rest are facing trials in court. This should serve as a warning to others that there is no hiding place in Nigeria for anyone involved in the illicit drug trade.
“NDLEA is resolved to end the reign of drug barons and disconnect Nigeria from the global drug trafficking network. We have maintained a consistently strong performance, every week.
“With this heroin bust, we are sending a warning again to drug traffickers within and outside the county that if they fail to desist from the illicit drug trade, the long arm of the law will catch up with them,” said the NDLEA chief.
