Olayiwola Matthew
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has dismantled an international organised criminal group (IOCG) operating between Nigeria, the UK, Brazil, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
A statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the cartel was smashed after a two-week intelligence-led operation across parts of Lagos.
According to Babafemi, the syndicate’s activities unravelled on August 26 when NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) intercepted 76 cartons of textile materials bound for Sydney, Australia.
He said a search of the shipment led to the discovery of 17.9kg of cocaine hidden in lace fabrics and packed with local charms, allegedly meant to provide “spiritual cover” against law enforcement detection.
Babafemi said Olashupo Michael Oladimeji, a freight agent, was arrested in connection with the consignment, which had an estimated street value of N5.3 billion.
Further investigations led to the arrest of two alleged leaders of the cartel — Muaezee Ademola Ogunbiyi and Shola Adegoke — in Lagos.
Ogunbiyi, described as the syndicate’s coordinator in Nigeria, was picked up in Ikeja GRA on September 3.
A search of his Lekki residence yielded 21 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 10.9kg, and a pump-action gun.
At a separate raid on a house in Ikeja GRA, NDLEA operatives arrested Adegoke and “recovered 17 parcels of cannabis weighing 9.6kg from a Range Rover SUV parked in the compound”.
Babafemi said investigations revealed that while Ogunbiyi coordinated local operations, Adebisi Ademola Omoyele, also known as “Mr. Bee”, who is currently in Dubai, directed the cartel’s international network.
He added that Adegoke had been jailed in the UK in 2021 for dealing in methamphetamine before his deportation in 2024, while Ogunbiyi previously served a 14-year jail term in the UK for murder before returning to Nigeria.
Babafemi said the agency also made several other arrests and intercepted large quantities of illicit drugs in different states during the week.
“Meanwhile, a Milan Italy-based Nigerian Gabriel Michael was on Friday 5th September arrested by NDLEA operatives at the departure hall of terminal 1 of the Lagos airport while attempting to board an Air France flight to Italy. He was found to have concealed a total of 24,480 pills of tramadol 100mg, 200mg and 225mg, which he claimed he was going to sell for 19,520 euros,” he said.
“A total of 160,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup were discovered in a 40ft container during a joint examination of the shipment by NDLEA officers and men of Nigeria Customs and other security agencies at the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state on Thursday 4th September. The container which has 220 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares used as cover for the codeine syrup was one of the shipments watch-listed and tracked by a special operations unit of NDLEA while the illicit consignment has an estimated street value of over N1.1 billion.
“In the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, NDLEA operatives on a stop and search operation on Thursday 4th September arrested a dispatch rider Joel Bernard, 32, in Gwarimpa area of the FCT while conveying 3.1kg Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis.”