March 13, (THEWILL) – A Nigerian national and suspected transnational drug trafficker, Joseph Chinedu Okparaejesi, alias Alen, has been arrested at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia.
Security expert Zagazola Makama reported that Okparaejesi was apprehended upon arrival from São Paulo, Brazil, following an intensive investigation led by Colombia’s police intelligence unit, Dijín, and the Attorney General’s Office.
Okparaejesi, who operated a hair extensions business, “Nigeria African,” near Ciudad de Cali Avenue, is alleged to be a key coordinator of large-scale cocaine shipments to Spain.
Colombian authorities revealed that he financed drug procurement and oversaw trafficking operations using human couriers and custom-made double-bottom suitcases to smuggle narcotics.
His arrest was made possible through intelligence provided by a detained drug mule en route to Spain, who exposed details of Okparaejesi’s network. So far, 15 other individuals linked to his operations have also been arrested.
The Colombian National Penitentiary and Prison Institute has confirmed his detention, with charges of drug trafficking, production, and distribution filed against him.
Okparaejesi married a Colombian woman in 2012 at the Nuestra Señora de Fátima parish in Bogotá. A close associate, speaking to El Tiempo, disclosed that the Nigerian rarely left Colombia, traveling to Africa only every two years to visit his family.
“The last time we spoke, he told us he was in Ghana,” the source said.
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