By Kamsi Anayo, Awka
A notorious drug kingpin, Okechukwu Izugha (a.k.a Okey Omeogo), has been arrested in Lagos by operatives of the Special Operations Unit of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after 12 months of going into hiding.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, confirmed Izugha’s arrest in a statement on Sunday.
He said the drug kingpin was nabbed on July 9 at his wife’s shop in Ijesha market.
Izugha came under NDLEA radar on Aug. 7, 2024 after 9kg of cocaine was recovered from a suspect, Obiora Joseph Agudosi, at a motor park in Orile, Lagos while going to deliver the consignment in the Southeast.
Izugha was identified as the owner of the seized drug.
In the course of investigating the kingpin and his network, his wife Maureen Izugha was arrested with 500grams of cocaine at her beverages store in Ijesha market on Jan. 21, 2025.
She was thereafter arraigned in court, convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment. Unknown to him that NDLEA was still on his trail, the wanted kingpin came out of his hiding and was promptly arrested on July 9.
Meanwhile, the anti-narcotic agency has also intercepted parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis concealed in microwaves imported from Thailand and wraps of cocaine built into ladies’ lipsticks going to Guinea at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.
Babafemi said the Loud consignment was part of a consolidated cargo that came in two tranches on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Based on credible intelligence, the cargo was subjected to thorough search during which 23 parcels of loud weighing 11.3kg concealed in new microwaves were recovered on July 7.
He said a suspect, Ezenwegbu Chike, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
He say d notless than 400grams of cocaine and phenacetine, a cutting agent, were recovered from the lipsticks when dismantled while a businessman at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos, Ezeikwelume Prince Afam was arrested on July 11 in connection with the seizure.
