From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Intelligence Service of South Korea (NIS) has praised the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for arresting 59-year-old drug baron Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff on February 12, ending his 17-year run smuggling illicit drugs worth billions of naira globally.
The NDLEA’s Special Operations Unit apprehended Jeff at his hideout in Ojo, Lagos, following an Interpol Red Notice and NIS intelligence.
Jeff, who served a one-year sentence in South Korea in 2007 and was deported to Nigeria in 2008, had long evaded Korean authorities for trafficking drugs into their country.
On April 16, an NIS delegation, including Choi Younkwan and Kim Juseok, visited NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) to deliver a letter from NIS Director Taeyong Cho. Cho wrote, “Kevin Jeff was responsible for smuggling significant quantities of narcotics into the Republic of Korea… Without the NDLEA’s invaluable cooperation, those long-standing efforts might have been in vain.”
The NIS requested Jeff’s extradition to face charges in South Korea. Marwa welcomed the commendation, assuring continued collaboration: “You can count on us to work together towards a drug-free world.”
He thanked South Korea for donating equipment to the NDLEA and said he would review the extradition request within Nigerian laws and bilateral agreements, also seeking training opportunities for NDLEA officers.