By Kingsley Omonobi
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), yesterday said operatives from its special operations unit have arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, ending his seven years of evading arrest.
Spokesman of the Agency, Femi Babafemi, said Chigozie “was caught attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the Southeast and other parts of the country.”
“Okpara, who has been on the wanted list of the NDLEA since 2019, was eventually nabbed at his hideout at 72 Michael Ojo Street, Isheri, in the Ojo area of Lagos State on Sunday, July 13, 2025, following the interception of some of his consignments at 5:45 a.m. the same day at Ilasamaja along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.
“In the early morning operation, a team of NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence arrested one of Okpara’s couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi, while heading to Onitsha, Anambra State, in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.
“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 the body compartments of the space bus.
“A follow-up operation was promptly carried out at Okpara’s hideout in Isheri, where an additional 1.8kg of cocaine and 1.3kg of methamphetamine were recovered from his residence.
“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, July 16, recovered 7,790 pills of Tramadol and Rohypnol from the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, Omoregie Nice Uyiosa.
“The suspect, who was travelling to Italy via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, claimed he purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in Italy at higher prices.
“In another arrest at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives at the export shed on Thursday, July 17, intercepted 17 parcels of skunk—a strain of cannabis—weighing 1.70kg, concealed in packs of the popular cereal, Golden Morn, bound for Pakistan as part of a consolidated cargo.
“A suspect, Chioba Robert Uchenna, who presented the consignment for shipment, was arrested.”
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, July 19, raided Sarah Sam Hotels located at 115 Ogudu Road in Kosofe, where different party drugs were being distributed and sold.
The raid followed credible intelligence and surveillance which confirmed a suspect, Obayemi Oyetade, as the arrowhead of the drug network.
At the time of the operation, 1.30kg of chocolate cannabis, 900 grams of gummies, and 22.9 grams of skunk were recovered from Obayemi’s room in the hotel, a 20-room facility run as a family business, housing his mother and siblings.
Other items recovered from the hotel included three vehicles.
Three suspects—Onyeka Madu, Monday Nwadishi, and Emmanuel Madu—were, on Saturday, July 19, arrested during an intelligence-led raid at Narayi High Cost area of Chikun LGA, Kaduna State, where 742.866 kilograms of skunk and Colorado (a synthetic strain of cannabis) were seized from them.
In Kano, Lawan Rabiu was nabbed with 36,000 pills of Tramadol along the Danbatta-Kazaure Road on Wednesday, July 16.
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