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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled an international cocaine trafficking cartel allegedly using Nigeria as a transit hub for shipments to the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and Asia, arresting its Nigerian arrowhead as he attempted to flee the country.
The NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd.), disclosed this while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, describing the operation as one of the agency’s most significant narcotics investigations in recent times and the largest cocaine seizure ever recorded at a courier company in Nigeria.
Marwa said the operation began with the interception of 184.50 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed for export through a Lagos courier logistics channel.
Given the scale of the consignment, he said he immediately ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team to trace the network from the couriers to the masterminds.
According to him, the cartel had hoped to make as much as N39 billion from the consignment through its international distribution chain.
Working with the management of the courier company, NDLEA operatives unravelled a network of intermediary firms and individuals allegedly used to process the shipment, leading to the arrest of two key suspects among several others.
The first suspect, Lawal Mujab Kehinde, a staff member of the logistics firm, was allegedly found to have maintained a direct and sustained relationship with the cartel’s Nigerian coordinator, packaging and routing consignments to the UK, Europe and Asia in exchange for cash payments.
The second and more prominent suspect, Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known online as “KC Luxury”, was identified as the alleged Nigerian arrowhead of the cartel. Using his public persona as a gold, jewellery and luxury goods dealer, Afolabi allegedly operated a cocaine pipeline stretching from South America through Nigeria to the UK, Europe and Asia.
Marwa said Afolabi did not surrender voluntarily, but was arrested after intelligence indicated that he planned to flee Nigeria on a business-class flight to Paris.
According to him, NDLEA operatives arrested the suspect at the boarding gate of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on the night of August 13.
He said the suspect was found in possession of €7,750, £2,800 and N100,000, as well as expensive jewellery.
A subsequent search of his apartment in Banana Island, Lagos, led to the recovery of exotic vehicles, Marwa added.
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According to the NDLEA chairman, investigations further revealed that the cartel allegedly used false identities to conceal the true consignors of its shipments, relied on financial facilitators to move billions of naira on its behalf, and maintained active contacts in the UK.
Some members of the syndicate in the UK, he said, had since been arrested by British authorities in connection with the same network.
Marwa linked the latest breakthrough to other recent successes against transnational drug trafficking organisations, including the dismantling of a Switzerland-based cartel allegedly run by one Simon Amadi, which he said laundered proceeds through dark web marketplaces.
He also cited the takedown of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine syndicates operating clandestine laboratories in forests in Ogun and Oyo states.
“These operations send an unmistakable signal that this Agency’s reach extends into the ports, the forests, the luxury apartments and the departure lounges alike, and that no sanctuary exists anywhere in Nigeria for those who traffic in poison,” Marwa said.
He noted that trafficking organisations were increasingly shifting their operations away from seaports and airports, where scrutiny had intensified, to courier and logistics companies, which they allegedly believed were less monitored.
The dismantling of the cartel, he said, demonstrated the agency’s capacity to track traffickers “whether in their mansions, forests, enclaves, ports, or behind the counters of courier companies.”
Marwa described the operation as a major achievement in international cooperation, citing the near-simultaneous arrests of suspected cartel members in Nigeria and the UK.
He commended the agency’s international partners and members of the Special Investigation Team, coordinated by the Director of Operations and General Investigation, for their role in the operation.
“To those who believe they can hide behind luxury brands, glamorous lifestyles and social media personas while trafficking poison into our communities and across our borders, this Agency will find you.
“It does not matter how well-connected, how wealthy, or how far you attempt to run,” he said.
Marwa reassured Nigerians of the agency’s continued commitment to protecting the country’s youth and ensuring that Nigeria is not used as a conduit for narcotics trafficking to any part of the world.
