The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested four individuals believed to have ties to a drug cartel.
Chairman of the agency, Retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, disclosed this during a press briefing held on Tuesday in Lagos.
According to him, 11 other persons are wanted for similar offences.
He said that the agency intercepted what he described as the largest consignment of heroin at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
He explained further that the interception resulted in the arrest of the suspects, including the wife of one of the suspects.
The chairman said that the cartel specialised in trafficking heroin across Africa and Europe.
Marwa explained that it took the agency’s operatives 12 days in a well-coordinated operation to intercept the drugs.
“Our operatives did due diligence by conducting a thorough search of a warehouse.
“This led to the recovery of 56 cartons of the cutting machines used for concealment of the substances.
“At this point, it was clear that we are dealing with a syndicate that operates in other countries,” he said.
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The chairman pointed out that the syndicate had a network because the consignments seized were marked with several code names.
Marwa said that in their follow-up operation, they uncovered from the suspects a long list of receivers of illicit drugs.
He further explained that pre-emptive actions so far taken against members of the syndicate included freezing a total of 107 bank accounts associated with the members of the cartel and N119.6 million found in some bank accounts.
Marwa commended the security agencies for their support in the fight against drug trafficking.
“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.”
NAN
