The NDLEA said the seizure, valued at about $27.7 million, was the largest interception of cocaine through a courier channel in the agency’s history.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the seizure of 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine worth about N39 billion and the arrest of two alleged members of an international drug trafficking syndicate.
Mr Marwa said the seizure, valued at about $27.7 million, was the largest interception of cocaine through a courier channel in the agency’s history.
According to him, the consignment was intercepted in Lagos while being processed for export through a courier logistics company.
He stated that the investigation uncovered an international trafficking network allegedly using Nigeria as a transit point for moving cocaine from South America to the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and Asia.
“Given the scale and sophistication of this seizure, I immediately directed the constitution of a special investigation team with a clear mandate to trace every mind and hand that touched this consignment and bring the entire network, not just the couriers, but the masterminds, to justice,” Mr Marwa said.
He noted that investigators worked with the management of the courier company to trace the logistics agents, intermediary companies and individuals connected with the shipment.
The investigation eventually led to the arrest of two suspects, including a logistics company employee and a businessman and social media personality identified by the agency as Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known as KC Luxury.
Mr Marwa described Mr Michael as the Nigerian “arrowhead” of the international cartel.
According to him, Mr Michael publicly presented himself as a businessman and social media influencer involved in gold, jewellery and luxury goods, but allegedly used the image to conceal his involvement in the drug trafficking network.
The NDLEA chairman said Mr Michael was arrested on 13 August at the boarding gate of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, after the agency received intelligence that he planned to leave Nigeria on a business-class flight to Paris.
Operatives, he noted, arrested him before he could board the flight.
They allegedly recovered €7,750, £2,800 and N100,000 in cash, as well as expensive jewellery, from him.
A search of his luxury apartment on Banana Island, Lagos, also led to the recovery of exotic vehicles and other assets, Mr Marwa said.
He explained that investigators established that the syndicate operated a trafficking route from South America through Nigeria to the UK, using false identities, financial facilitators and contacts in the UK.
“Some of them, I am happy to confirm, have since been arrested by our counterparts abroad in connection with the same syndicate,” he said.
The chairman revealed that the second suspect, identified as Lawal Kehinde, an employee of a logistics company, was allegedly linked to the processing and movement of cocaine shipments.
He said the investigation established that the suspect had a sustained relationship with the Nigerian coordinator of the syndicate and was allegedly involved in paying for and processing packages containing cocaine for export.
Mr Marwa said the latest investigation highlighted a growing trend in the methods used by international drug trafficking organisations.
He stated that traffickers were increasingly moving away from traditional routes such as seaports and turning to courier and logistics companies, which they allegedly considered less monitored channels for moving narcotics across international borders.
“There is no alternative route into or out of Nigeria for illicit drugs that this agency cannot police,” he said.
The NDLEA chairman explained that the agency would continue to strengthen intelligence-led operations to prevent traffickers from exploiting alternative channels.
He also stressed the importance of international cooperation in dismantling transnational drug networks, noting that suspects linked to the same syndicate had also been arrested abroad.
Mr Marwa cited the dismantling of the Switzerland-based Carlos Meza Torrero drug cartel and the arrest of members of Nigerian-Mexican syndicates allegedly involved in clandestine production of synthetic drugs as examples of the agency’s recent efforts against international trafficking networks.
He commended officers of the NDLEA Special Investigation Team, particularly those coordinated by the Director of Operations and General Investigation, for tracing the alleged network from the intercepted consignment to its suspected Nigerian leadership.
He said the investigation was being handled by the agency’s legal, assets and financial teams, which were working towards the prosecution of the suspects and the confiscation and forfeiture of assets allegedly linked to the criminal enterprise.
The latest seizure comes weeks after the NDLEA intercepted other consignments of illicit drugs at the Lagos airport and other locations across the country.
On 23 July, NDLEA operatives arrested a 55-year-old businessman, Onuigbo Ndubisi Chinedu, over an alleged attempt to export 3.30 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in the walls of cartons used to package foodstuffs destined for the United Kingdom.
The consignment had been intercepted at the export shed of the Lagos airport on 22 July.
The agency initially arrested three cargo agents — Nkwor Onyekachukwu Justina, Adeleke Abiola Taoheed and Ukanwa Grace Pilgrim — who handled the shipment.
