NDLEA arrests wanted drug kingpin with cocaine after 7 years

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, ending seven years of evading the long arm of the law.

Chigozie was also caught attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the South-East and other parts of Nigeria.

Okpara who has been on the wanted list of NDLEA since 2019 was eventually nabbed at his hideout in the Ojo area of Lagos State on Sunday, July 13, 2025, following the interception of some of his consignments same day at Ilasamaja along Apapa-Oshodi expressway.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday, July 20.

Anambra PDP governorship candidate shot in Abuja

Babafemi said a team of NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence also arrested one of Okpara’s couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi, while heading to Onitsha, Anambra State, in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.

Babafemi said the agency’s sniffer dogs were subsequently brought in to search the vehicle after which 7.6 kilograms of cocaine and 900 grams of methamphetamine were found hidden in body compartments of the space bus.

He added that a follow-up operation was promptly carried out at Okpara’s hideout in Isheri where additional 1.8kg cocaine and 1.3kg methamphetamine were recovered from his residence.

The Star