NDLEA Arrests Wanted Drug Kingpin After 13 Years In Hiding

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Reginald Peter Chidiebere, described as “a wanted drug kingpin,” who allegedly went into hiding for 13 years over cocaine and heroin trafficking.

In a statement on Sunday, the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said Chidiebere was first arrested in 2013 for cocaine trafficking and arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, in charge number FHC/L/187c/2923.

However, he jumped bail after his release and subsequently went underground.

Babafemi said Chidiebere’s name resurfaced in February 2024 as one of the masterminds behind the importation of 49.70 kilogrammes of heroin from South Africa. The consignment was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja.

“A follow-up operation was carried out on 19th February 2024 at his Golden Platinum Hotel & Suites, located at No. 16/18 Reginald Peter Chidiebere Street, Hope Estate, Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, where an additional 2.20 kilogrammes of heroin was recovered from one of his guests, Igbuanugo Ebuka Thank God. As a result, Chidiebere went underground,” the statement read.

The agency subsequently secured an interim forfeiture of the hotel and blocked bank accounts traced to him.

“Following these developments, Chidiebere could no longer sustain himself in hiding, prompting his surrender to the agency on 13th February 2026,” Babafemi said.

He has since been taken into custody to face “his pending charges for which he jumped bail in 2013 and fresh charges based on the 2024 heroin consignments linked to him.”

Reacting to the arrest, NDLEA chairman, Buba Marwa, said the agency remains resolute in dismantling criminal networks and bringing offenders to justice.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Imo State on February 25 dismantled “a clandestine laboratory tucked in Isiozi Obiato, Umuaka, Njaba Local Government Area,” where 18.4 kilogrammes of methamphetamine were recovered, alongside a large quantity of precursor chemicals and equipment used in producing the illicit substance.

At the Seme border in Lagos on February 27, officers intercepted a Togolese woman, Hadiza Musa, who concealed “5,000 pills of tramadol in her luggage.”

In a separate operation, “1,040 kilogrammes of skunk” were recovered from an uncompleted building at Akodo village, Seaside Eleko, along the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos.

Other seizures across states included 1,499 bottles of codeine syrup recovered in Kano, 87.4 kilogrammes of skunk intercepted in Katsina, and 18.085 kilogrammes of skunk seized in Osun.