Onuigbo Ndubisi Chinedu, a 55-year-old businessman and clothing dealer at Lagos Island’s Balogun market, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for attempting to export 3.30 kilograms of cocaine.
The drugs were hidden within the walls of cartons used to package foodstuffs bound for the United Kingdom.
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Onuigbo was apprehended on Thursday, July 23, 2026, after operatives intercepted his cocaine-laden consignment at the Lagos airport export shed a day earlier, on Wednesday, July 22.
Babafemi said in the course of investigation, three cargo agents identified as Nkwor Onyekachukwu Justina; Adeleke Abiola Taoheed; and Ukanwa Grace Pilgrim, who handled the shipment, were initially arrested, leading to the arrest of Kenneth Okakpu who delivered the consignment to the cargo agents for shipment to the UK.
The NDLEA spokesperson said Okakpu’s arrest provided the lead to identifying Onuigbo as the kingpin behind the syndicate and his eventual arrest while attempting to send another consignment of cocaine to the UK.
He mentioned that a 31-year-old entrepreneur, Emmanuella Chukwu-Edo, also involved in illicit drug trafficking, was on Tuesday, 21st July, arrested at her Surulere, Lagos residence by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of her consignment of 2.80kg Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, which arrived from the United States aboard a United Airlines flight on Monday, 20th July.”
In a related development, NDLEA officials seized a consignment of tramadol buried in containers of black soap heading to the UK. The shipment was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at a courier firm in Lagos on Wednesday, 22nd July.
Watch the video of the consignment below
