The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded a significant breakthrough in its fight against illicit drugs and banned substances with the arrest of a 59-year-old notorious international drug baron, Ogbonaya Kelvin Jeff, after 17 years of hiding from the law.
His reign came to an end on Wednesday, 12th February 2025, when operatives of the agency swooped on him at his hideout in the Ojo area of Lagos State.
NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in Abuja, said an elated Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), announced the arrest of the billionaire drug baron on Sunday at a press briefing in Abuja.
General Marwa gave graphic details of how operatives of its Special Operations Unit had been on the trail of Ogbonaya following an Interpol red notice against him and information from the National Intelligence Service of South Korea.
The NDLEA Boss said he has been under their investigation before his arrest, adding that they have comprehensive intelligence on his activities, and incontrovertible facts that he is a notorious drug lord who recruited young Nigerians as couriers to smuggle illicit substances into the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
He said the NDLEA records reveal that many Nigerians apprehended outside the country for drug-related offences were linked to him, stating that they have established that he laundered drug proceeds through the importation of electronics and other goods.
Following his arrest, a search of his residence led to the recovery of multiple Nigerian international passports belonging to different individuals, many of which contained Korean visas while some illicit substances were recovered in a storehouse at the back of his house.
While unmasking the suspect’s leadership role in the drug underworld, the NDLEA boss said, Jeff is not a typical domestic drug baron but an international trafficker operating both from Nigeria and abroad.
His dossier indicates that he served a one-year prison sentence in the Republic of Korea in 2007 and was deported to Nigeria in 2008 but despite that he continued his illicit trade, remaining actively involved in drug trafficking operations to the Far East.
General Marwa, said presently, he is wanted in the Republic of Korea for multiple drug trafficking offences in collaboration with his accomplices while an INTERPOL Red Notice was issued for his arrest and extradition to the country for offences committed between 2023 and 2024.
He has been orchestrating operations remotely by giving instructions to drug mules and domestic suppliers who are members of his syndicate spread across Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Liberia and other East and Southern African countries.
Marwa, however said Ogbonnaya’s arrest is an affirmation of NDLEA resolve to work with international partners to ensure no drug baron finds Nigeria a comfort zone to distribute illicit substances within the country or traffic them to other countries.
