By Patrick Wemambu
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, after six years of his evading arrests.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement on Sunday, said Chigozie was arrested attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the Southeast and other parts of the country.
Babafemi said the suspect who has been on the wanted list of NDLEA since 2019 was eventually nabbed at his hideout at 72 Micheal Ojo Street, Isheri in Ojo area of Lagos state on Sunday 13th July 2025 following the interception of some of his consignments at 5:45am same day at Ilasamaja along Apapa-Oshodi expressway.
Babafemi also said in the early morning operation, a team of NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence arrested one of Okparas couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi while heading to Onitsha, Anambra state in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.
The Spokesman said the agency’s sniffer dogs were subsequently brought in to search the vehicle after which 7.6 kilograms of cocaine and 900 grams of methamphetamine were found hidden in body compartments of the space bus.
He said a follow-up operation was promptly carried out at Okparas hideout in Isheri where an additional 1.8kg of cocaine and 1.3kg of methamphetamine were recovered from his residence.
Babafemi said at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives in a joint operation with Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Wednesday, 16th July recovered 7,790 pills of tramadol and rohypnol from the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, Omoregie Nice Uyiosa.
He said the suspect, who was going to Italy via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, claimed he purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in Italy at higher prices.
Babafemi said in another arrest at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives at the export shed on Thursday, 17th July, intercepted 17 parcels of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 1.70kg, concealed in packs of popular cereal, Golden Morn, going to Pakistan as part of a consolidated cargo.
He said a suspect, Chioba Robert Uchenna, who presented the consignment for shipment, was arrested.
