March 09, (THEWILL) – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency finally nabbed a wanted 59-year-old international drug baron, Ogbonnaya Jeff, after 17 years of dodging its officials. He was reportedly arrested at his den in the Ojo area of Lagos State last week, thus bringing to a close the dangerous activities of one of the most wanted drug lords in Nigeria with global reach for his toxic products.
According to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), who announced Ogbonnaya’s arrest by the agency’s Special Operations Unit last month at his hideout at No. 3, Ibukunoluwa Taiwo Close, off LASU Road, Ojo, Lagos, the drug lord is wanted across the world as the ringleader of a drug trafficking organisation responsible for smuggling narcotics into the People’s Republic of Korea.
Ogbonnaya is a notorious drug lord who recruited young Nigerians as couriers to smuggle illicit substances into the Republic of Korea (South Korea), in addition to being a trafficker of many other Nigerians arrested outside Nigeria for drug-related offences. Besides, laundering drug proceeds through the importation of electronics and other goods, were part of his elaborate plan to conceal his shady deals.
Apart from South Korea, other countries within the reach of the baron’s syndicate are Cameroun, Ghana, Burkina Faso and other East and Southern Africa countries.
General Marwa said that investigation revealed that while residing in Nigeria, Ogbonaya directed his drug couriers, Santa Elizabeth Pieterse and Carl Yohan Stephan Brisman, to smuggle a total of five kilogrammes of methamphetamine into South Korea through overseas flights between December 2023 and April 2024. In recent times alone, he has sent illicit drugs worth over N1.4 billion in street value to South Korea.
An INTERPOL Red Notice was issued for his arrest and extradition to the country for offences committed between 2023 and 2024.
The point in all of these is that for the NDLEA and its partners to have stayed on this case for 17 years and finally made the arrest is a salutary step in the war against illicit drugs. Also, it shows how commitment and dedication on the part of the NDLEA and its partners to the eradication of illegal drugs can achieve a lot in the long run. This kind of partnership, besides helping the parties to focus on their mission, also helps in putting the issue on the front burner of public attention and discourse with a view to creating awareness to the danger of illicit drugs and ever ready presence of wilful traffickers.
Indeed, relevant bodies like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) lists Nigeria on its website as one of the transit routes for many illicit drug and dangerous traffickers with the presence of hard drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and amphetamines readily available on the streets and abused by many.
NAFDAC rcently invaded Onitsha in Anambra state and Aba in Abia state where other forms of food and drugs were either being adulterated or made for consumption by an unsuspecting public. To compound the matter, what is happening in the country has become a Continental challenge.
Back home, however, the problem is compounded by the increasing crime rates and insecurity as well as severe health challenges and cognitive abilities which maintain a symbiotic relationship with drug prevalence.
Even so, the NDLEA has consistently been on the trail of drug traffickers and couriers week in week out to the extent that this arrest of Ogbonnaya must remain a testament to its dedication and competence in the sustained war against illicit drug trafficking in the country. We salute Gen. Marwa and his capable team at the NDLEA for this significant break in the ongoing war on illicit drugs in the country and urged them to keep the fight alive.
