Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a drug kingpin, Ngene Onyedikachi, who was responsible for recruiting fake couple smugglers arrested in Lagos on August 1, 2023, while hard drugs of various forms were seized across the country in different operations.
The fake couple, Onyebuchi and Nonyelum Ilonzeh were arrested by operatives of the NDLEA for ingesting 184 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.322 kg, with 100 grammes of the drug also concealed in the woman’s private part.
In a statement on Sunday,the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said Onyedikachi was arrested at his Akoka, Yaba, residence by operatives of the NDLEA on Friday.
Babafemi said, “The NDLEA operatives on Friday, August 25, 2023, succeeded in arresting a drug kingpin, Ngene Onyedikachi, who recruited the fake couple, Ilonzeh Onyebuchi and Ilonzeh Nonyelum, arrested for ingesting 1.822kg and 1.50kg of cocaine, respectively, at the Lagos airport on August 1 while on their way to India. The kingpin was picked at his residence, located at 28 Afolabi Brown Street, Akoka, Yaba, after intensive surveillance that lasted 25 days.”
He further revealed that the suspect confessed that the fake couple were introduced to him by another member of his syndicate whom he met in a Lagos church.
During his interview, Onyedikachi confessed that the two suspects, Ilonzeh Onyebuchi and Ilonzeh Nonyelum, were introduced to him by another member of his syndicate, whom he claimed he met at Zion Church in the Cele area of Lagos. He explained that the drug was sourced from Guinea-Conakry.
“The suspect revealed that when he got information about the arrest of the fake couple, he threw away his old mobile phone along with the SIM cards to avoid being traced, adding that he became relaxed and refused to leave his house because the two couriers do not know his house since they have only met twice at different locations.
“He said he was living in India before he returned to Nigeria in 2022 after the Indian authorities discovered that he was using an Ivory Coast International passport. A blue Acura Legend car was part of items recovered from his home during his arrest,” the statement added.
In the same vein, the agency stated on Sunday that it had arrested some other suspects, including Peter Iwebema, Ekechukwu Ndubuisi, Suleiman Oba, Nafiu Arzika, Jamilu Aminu, and Ismaila Razak, among others, for various drug-related offences across the country.
One of the other suspects arrested during various raids across the country, Iwebema, was arrested in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State in possession of cannabis sativa, while his counterparts were arrested at the Tincan port command.
Oba, another suspect who holds a South African passport, was apprehended while trying to board a Rwanda Air flight to South Africa on Friday with boxes loaded with ephedrine sealed in semovita packs.
Also, Arzika, Aminu, and Razak were nabbed in Sokoto and Oyo states with different forms of hard drugs, among which are skunk and methamphetamine, on Tuesday and Saturday, respectively.
