Officers of the Special Operation Unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have busted a cartel controlled by a drug baron, 49-year-old Kelechi Monday Nwaobasi and his 50-year-old elder sister, Ms. Chinwe Rose Nwaobasi.
This follows the arrest of the siblings and the seizure of cocaine and methamphetamine consignments worth over N4.1bn in street value from their hideout in Aba, Abia State.
The spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said on Sunday in a statement that the special operation conducted on Thursday 13th and Friday 14th June 2024 at 3B, Boundary Avenue, Aba and a residence along Ohia Road, Ohia, Abia State followed months of intelligence gathering.
“This led to the arrest of the ring leaders and the combined seizure of 20.76kgs of cocaine and methamphetamine from them,” he said.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives in Lagos State have uncovered an expansive warehouse stocked with a large consignment of codeine-based syrup, located at Comfort Oboh area of Kirikiri, where four persons connected with the importation and distribution of the opioid were arrested during an intelligence-led raid on the facility.
Those arrested include: Kingsley Amanambu Obumneke, 38; Emeka Emmanuel, 48; Bonaventure Ugochukwu, 59; and Martin Dike, 56, while a total of 82,000 bottles of the opioid worth more than N600 million in street value, Toyota Tacuma truck and two buses used for distributing the substance were recovered from the premises on Monday 10th June 2024 when NDLEA officers conducted the operation.