The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested five members of a drug cartel for allegedly importing illicit drug consignments into the country.

The NDLEA officers arrested the suspects in a two-week intelligence-led operations in Lagos, Abia, and Anambra states following the seizure of their illicit drug consignments at the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday, May 5, 2024.

Babafemi noted that the unravelling of the drug cartel started on Sunday, April 21, when the suspects’ cargo of four big suitcases arrived at the Lagos airport on an Air Peace Airline flight from Johannesburg, South Africa.

He stated that after days of close monitoring and investigation, the first suspect, Umeh Chisom Peter, was arrested on Wednesday, April 24, after he showed up to pick up two of the suitcases containing Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis owned by a Thailand based member of the syndicate, Obum Michael.

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He disclosed that the consignment of four parcels was concealed in false bottoms of the two suitcases, while the four suitcases contained 17.6 kilograms Loud and drug candies.

The NDLEA spokesman said another member of the syndicate, Chiwendu Uche Ugbe, whose South Africa-based husband, Aloytus Uche Ugbe, sent some of the consignments, was traced to Anambra State where officers of the anti-drug agency arrested her on Saturday, April 27, while attempting to collect the drug parcels sent to her by her husband.

Babafemi noted that two other suspects, Onyejakor Francis Chimezie and Naaji Valentine Chukwukere, with links to the cartel were also arrested in parts of Lagos on Monday, April 29.

He said their arrest led to another operation in Abia State where a woman, Chinazo Osigwe, was arrested when she was to pick up some of the parcels containing Loud and drug candies sent by her husband, Osigwe Chidiebere Anthony, who is equally operating from South Africa.

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The Star