The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said 184.5 kilos of cocaine were found hidden in brown boxes at a courier facility in Lagos on Monday, August 3. The agency said it was being exported by an international trafficking network that for years had used Nigeria as a transit hub to transport drugs to the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and Asia. Micheal was arrested 10 days later at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos while attempting to leave the country on a business class flight to the French capital. “Upon receiving credible information that he intended to flee the country… our officers acted decisively and detained him at the gate… just as he was trying to escape the reach of the law,” NDLEA chief Gen. Buba Marwa said. was arrested, the agency said. A second detained suspect, Lawal Mujab Kehinde, was allegedly a staff member of a logistics company through which the cocaine was transported. The NDLEA alleged that the 33-year-old man packaged cocaine for export and was paid in cash. Kehinde has not commented on the allegations nor has he been charged in court. The agency said other suspected members of the network in the UK have also been arrested by counterpart law enforcement agencies abroad. The BBC is pursuing UK authorities for comment. Marwa said the arrests showed what can be achieved when international agencies work together and vowed to pursue other members of the network. “We will follow you to the exit gates if necessary,” he said at a news conference in Lagos.
