Ondopress
Operatives of a special operations unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, ending seven years of evading the long arm of the law, even as he was caught attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the Southeast and other parts of the country.
Femi Babafemi, spokesperson of the anti0drug agency, says Okpara who has been on the wanted list of NDLEA since 2019, was eventually nabbed at his hideout at 72 Micheal Ojo Street, Isheri in Ojo area of Lagos state on Sunday 13th July 2025 following the interception of some of his consignments at 5:45am same day at Ilasamaja along Apapa-Oshodi expressway.
ββIn the early morning operation, a team of NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence arrested one of Okparaβs couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi while heading to Onitsha, Anambra state in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.
The agencyβs 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 body compartments of the space bus. A follow up operation was promptly carried out at Okparaβs hideout in Isheri where additional 1.8kg cocaine and 1.3kg methamphetamine were recovered from his residence.ββ
Babafemi mentioned that 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 16th July recovered 7,790 pills of tramadol and rohypnol from the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, Omoregie Nice Uyiosa. The suspect who was going to Italy via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines flight claimed he purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in Italy at higher prices.
