The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 59-year-old notorious international drug baron, Ogbonaya Kelvin Jeff, after 17 years of hiding from the law.His reign came to an end on Wednesday, 12th February 2025, when operatives of the agency swooped on him at his hideout in the Ojo area of Lagos State.
An elated Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), announced the arrest of the billionaire drug baron yesterday at a press briefing in Abuja.
Gen. Marwa gave graphic details of how operatives of its Special Operations Unit had been on the trail of Ogbonaya following an Interpol red notice against him and information from the National Intelligence Service of South Korea.
According to Marwa: “The major development that warranted this special briefing pertains to the arrest of a drug lord who’s 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 National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), our prime targets are drug barons and other important figures that organise drug trafficking rings.
While unmasking the suspect’s leadership role in the drug underworld, the NDLEA boss said, “Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff is not a typical domestic drug baron; he is an international trafficker operating both from Nigeria and abroad. His dossier indicates that he served a one-year prison sentence in the Republic of Korea in 2007 and was deported to Nigeria in 2008. Despite this, he continued his illicit trade, remaining actively involved in drug trafficking operations to the Far East.