How NDLEA Tracked ‘KC Luxury’ to Lagos Airport Over ₦39bn Cocaine Plot
NDLEA says alleged cartel arrowhead was arrested at Lagos airport as ₦39bn cocaine consignment, foreign cash and luxury vehicles were recovered
By Abdullahi Yusuf
A luxury-goods dealer and social media personality was arrested at Lagos airport as he allegedly attempted to leave Nigeria for Paris, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said.
Investigators had linked him to an international cocaine trafficking network behind a consignment the agency valued at up to ₦39 billion.
The suspect, Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known online as “KC Luxury”, was arrested at the boarding gate of Murtala Muhammed International Airport on August 13, according to NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd).
The arrest followed the interception in Lagos of 184.50kg of cocaine concealed in a courier consignment destined for onward export, which the agency said the cartel hoped to sell for as much as ₦39 billion through its international distribution network.
What began as a seizure at a logistics company eventually developed into a wider investigation spanning Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.
Addressing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, August 18, Marwa said he ordered a Special Investigation Team after the cocaine seizure to trace not only those who handled the shipment but the network behind it.
The investigation, conducted with the cooperation of the courier company involved, uncovered what NDLEA described as a chain of intermediary companies and individuals used to process and move the drugs.
One of the suspects, Lawal Mujab Kehinde, a staff member of the logistics firm, was allegedly involved in packaging and processing consignments for the network and routing them to the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.
NDLEA said he was paid in cash for his role.
But investigators eventually traced the operation to Michael, whom the agency described as the Nigerian “arrowhead” of the cartel.
According to Marwa, Michael had cultivated a public profile around gold, jewellery and luxury goods, while allegedly using that image to conceal a cocaine trafficking operation connecting South America to Nigeria and onward destinations in Europe and Asia.
The arrest came as investigators received intelligence that Michael was preparing to leave Nigeria on a business-class flight to Paris.
NDLEA operatives moved to the airport and arrested him at the boarding gate on August 13, Marwa said.
He was allegedly carrying €7,750, £2,800 and ₦100,000 in cash, alongside expensive jewellery.
A subsequent search of his luxury apartment on Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, led to the recovery of exotic vehicles, according to the agency.
NDLEA said the investigation also uncovered the use of false identities to conceal the true consignors of shipments and financial facilitators who allegedly moved billions of naira on behalf of the network.
The agency further said some members of the syndicate operating in the United Kingdom had been arrested by British authorities in connection with the same investigation.
The investigation has also given NDLEA a closer look at what it described as a changing strategy among international drug-trafficking organisations.
With scrutiny increasing around traditional entry and exit points such as seaports and airports, traffickers are increasingly turning to courier and logistics companies, the agency said.
Marwa said the traffickers appeared to regard such companies as less heavily monitored channels for moving narcotics across international borders.
But the 184.50kg seizure and subsequent arrests, he said, demonstrated that the agency was expanding its investigations beyond conventional drug-trafficking routes.
The operation is the latest in a series of transnational investigations cited by NDLEA, including the dismantling of the Switzerland-based Simon Amadi drug cartel and the arrests linked to two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine networks operating clandestine laboratories in Ogun and Oyo states.
Marwa said the latest operation also demonstrated the value of international cooperation, pointing to the near-simultaneous arrests of suspects in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
He commended the agency’s international partners and the Special Investigation Team involved in tracing the network.
Michael had been preparing to board a business-class flight to Paris when NDLEA operatives moved in and arrested him at the departure gate, according to Marwa.
The NDLEA chief reserved his strongest warning for those who believe wealth, connections or distance can put them beyond the reach of the law.
“It does not matter how well-connected, how wealthy, or how far you attempt to run,” he said. “We will track you to the departure gate if we must.”
SPONSORED
SPONSORED
