Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug kingpin, Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff, 17 years after he went underground to evade capture.
The agency’s Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), made the announcement on Monday during a press briefing in Abuja.
He revealed that Jeff, a 51-year-old trafficker accused of shipping illicit drugs worth billions of naira across the world, was finally apprehended at his hideout in the Ojo area of Lagos.
NDLEA operatives, acting on an Interpol red notice and intelligence from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, had been trailing Jeff for years before successfully capturing him.
“The major development that warranted this special briefing pertains to the arrest of a drug lord who is wanted across the world as the leader of an international drug trafficking organisation.
“I am therefore pleased to announce this significant breakthrough in our efforts to dismantle drug trafficking syndicates operating within the country. As we have said four years ago when we began the reform of the NDLEA, our prime targets are drug barons and other important figures that organise drug trafficking rings.
“On Wednesday, 12th February 2025, we achieved that objective in the successful arrest of Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff, a 59-year-old drug baron. The suspect was arrested at his hideout at No. 3, Ibukunoluwa Taiwo Close, off LASU Road, Lagos. He has been under the NDLEA investigation before his arrest.
“As a result, we have comprehensive intelligence on his activities, and incontrovertible facts that he is a notorious drug lord who recruited young Nigerians as couriers to smuggle illicit substances into the Republic of Korea (South Korea),” Marwa said.
He said that the NDLEA records revealed that many Nigerians apprehended outside the country for drug-related offences were linked to Ogbonnaya.
“Furthermore, we have established that he laundered drug proceeds through the importation of electronics and other goods. Following his arrest, a search of his residence led to the recovery of multiple Nigerian international passports belonging to different individuals, many of which contained Korean visas. Additionally, we recovered some illicit substances in a storehouse at the back of his house,” Marwa said.
While unmasking the suspect’s leadership role in the drug underworld, the NDLEA boss said that Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff is not a typical domestic drug baron, but an international trafficker operating both from Nigeria and abroad.
He said that Jeff’s dossier indicates that he served a one-year prison sentence in the Republic of Korea in 2007 and was deported to Nigeria in 2008 and that despite this, he continued his illicit trade, remaining actively involved in drug trafficking operations.
He said, “Presently, he is wanted in the Republic of Korea for multiple drug trafficking offences in collaboration with his accomplices. An INTERPOL Red Notice was issued for his arrest and extradition to the country for offences committed between 2023 and 2024.
“From a series of interdictions, it has been established that Ogbonnaya Kevin Ogbonnaya is the ringleader of a drug trafficking organisation responsible for smuggling narcotics into the People’s Republic of Korea.
“He has been orchestrating operations remotely by giving instructions to drug mules and domestic suppliers who are members of his syndicate spread across Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Liberia and other East and Southern African countries.”
Giving further insights into the outcome of investigations Marwa said on October 5 2023, at a location in Burkina Faso, the suspect dispatched 6,051.06 grams of skunk, concealed in dried chillies and jujube, to a Korean, Kim Dong Wook at a designated address in Jinju City, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
“The package arrived at Incheon Airport on 19th October 2023 at 07:20 am via Air France. Investigation reveals that while residing in Nigeria, he directed his drug couriers, Santa Elizabeth Pieterse and Carl Yohan Stephan Brisman, to smuggle a total of five kilograms of methamphetamine into South Korea via overseas flights, between December 2023 and April 2024.
“In recent times alone, he has sent illicit drugs worth over N1.4bn in street value to South Korea. Ogbonnoya maintains another domestic carrier, identified as “Asa”, who delivers for him drug consignments to a warehouse operated by Okori Emmanuel, a Nigerian who is his supply manager in South Korea. As of now, two arrest warrants have been issued against Ogbonnaya by the Seoul Central District Court in January and June 2024.
“These warrants charge him with importing narcotic drugs in violation of Article 3-7 of South Korea’s Narcotics Control Act, an offence punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment,” the NDLEA boss added.
Marwa assured of the NDLEA’s commitment to ensuring that Nigeria does not serve as a base for international drug trafficking operations.
“We will continue our relentless fight against illicit drug networks and their financiers, in line with our mandate to safeguard public health and national security.
“The arrest of Ogbonnaya is therefore an affirmation of our resolve to work with our international partners to ensure no drug baron finds Nigeria a comfort zone to distribute illicit substances within the country or traffic them to other countries,” he said
