Okafor Williams and Hakeem Salami, two wanted leaders of transnational criminal organizations, have been apprehended by agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. They have had multiple billions of naira worth of illicit drugs and other assets seized from them.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, NDLEA officers intercepted shipments of cocaine and heroin hidden in the stomachs of their traffickers, leading to the capture of the two drug lords.
Salami was tracked to his refuge in South Africa after a member of his syndicate was apprehended in August, according to a statement released on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
Williams and his wife Grace were also apprehended, he continued, in their hiding place in the Lagos State neighborhood of Okota.
“Operations at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, succeeded in taking into custody Hakeem Salami, the arrowhead of the “Tajudeen Babatunde Abioye Transnational Criminal Organization,” involved in the illicit trade of several narcotics, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ephedrine, between Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Europe.
“After Suleiman Oba, a member of his syndicate, was detained at the Lagos airport on August 25, 2023, for attempting to export 25.10kg of ephedrine to South Africa, he fled Nigeria and went to South Africa.
However, Hakeem Salami was discovered after working with South African police as well as other intelligence and investigative agencies.Other cartel members already in arrest include Suleiman and Godwin Edet Mathew, however several of his high-end vehicles have been confiscated and his residence in Surulere Lagos secured. He said in his testimony that, prior to getting involved in the illegal drug trade roughly two years ago, he used to sell gold in South Africa and import building supplies from China to Nigeria.
On Thursday, October 5, 2023, when NDLEA agents stormed their hideout at 9, Awa Street, Ago Palace, Babafemi said Williams (aka Jantu), the Okota area of Lagos, authorities found 27.566kg of methamphetamine hidden in a blue box and two sacks and prepared for transportation to Europe and Asia. The leader of a different cartel and his wife, Grace, were also apprehended.
Their parked Lexus RX350 with the license plate ABJ 512 AY was also seized during the operation. “Weeks of intelligence gathering regarding the criminal network’s operations led to their arrest,” he continued.
The statement also disclosed that Nwofor Charles, 45, another drug trafficker, was detained on October 6 while boarding Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Doha.
According to the report, he was placed under observation after a body scan suggested he had consumed cocaine. During this time, he passed 75 cocaine pellets, each weighing 1.653 kg.
It was also reported that Nwofor, the final passenger to board the plane, offered to pay an NDLEA officer $3,000 in exchange for his release.
“On the next day, Saturday, October 7, Nwufo Okwudili, 45, a second trafficker, was also detained as he tried to board Lufthansa Airlines flight LH 0595 bound for Paris, France, through Frankfurt, Germany. He was escorted into the recovery area after passing via a body scanner, where he passed 96 wraps of the heroin he had consumed, weighing a total of 1.413 kilograms.On Tuesday, October 10, NDLEA agents on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway stopped a commercial bus traveling from Lagos to Kano. A bus search resulted in the confiscation of $4,880,000 and CFA57,000,000 that were possibly counterfeit, according to the statement.