Okpara and others
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday 13th July 2025 arrested a wanted 60-year-old drug kingpin, Okpara Paul Chigozie, ending seven years of evading the long arm of the law.
Okpara was caught while attempting to ship large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the Southeast and other parts of the country.
He was said to have been on the wanted list of NDLEA since 2019 before he was eventually nabbed at his hideout at 72 Michael Ojo Street, Isheri in Ojo area of Lagos state following the interception of some of his consignments at 5:45am same day at Ilasamaja along Apapa-Oshodi expressway.
In the early morning operation, a team of NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence arrested one of Okpara’s couriers, 51-year-old Achebe Kenneth Nnamdi while heading to Onitsha, Anambra state in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.
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. 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.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives in a joint operation with Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Wednesday 16th July recovered 7,790 pills of tramadol and rohypnol from the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, Omoregie Nice Uyiosa. The suspect who was going to Italy via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines flight claimed he purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in Italy at higher prices.
In another arrest at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives at the export shed on Thursday 17th July intercepted 17 parcels of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 1.70kg concealed in packs of popular cereal, Golden Morn, going to Pakistan as part of a consolidated cargo. A suspect, Chioba Robert Uchenna who presented the consignment for shipment was arrested.
