The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an alleged drug kingpin, Reginald Peter Chidiebere, who had been on the run for 13 years after jumping bail.
In a statement on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said Chidiebere was taken into custody following fresh investigations linking him to large consignments of cocaine and heroin intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
According to the NDLEA, Chidiebere was first arrested in 2013 over cocaine shipments and arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos. He was granted bail but absconded and remained at large.
Babafemi said the suspect resurfaced in February 2024 as one of the alleged masterminds behind the importation of 49.70 kilograms of heroin from South Africa, intercepted at the airport’s import shed. A follow-up operation at his Golden Platinum Hotel & Suites in Okota, Lagos, reportedly led to the recovery of an additional 2.20 kilograms of heroin from a guest.
The agency subsequently secured interim forfeiture of the hotel and froze bank accounts traced to him. NDLEA said mounting pressure forced Chidiebere to surrender on February 13, 2026. He is expected to face pending charges from 2013 as well as new counts related to the 2024 heroin seizures.
In separate operations across the country, NDLEA operatives dismantled a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State, recovering 18.4 kilograms of the drug along with precursor chemicals and production equipment.
At the Seme border in Lagos, officers intercepted a Togolese woman with 5,000 tramadol pills concealed in her luggage, while 1,040 kilograms of skunk were seized from an uncompleted building in the Ibeju-Lekki area. Additional seizures were recorded in Kano, Katsina, Osun, Taraba, Borno and the Federal Capital Territory, involving opioids, codeine syrup and cannabis, with multiple suspects arrested.
NDLEA Chairman, Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended officers across the affected commands for the arrests and seizures, describing the capture of Chidiebere as a demonstration of the agency’s resolve to dismantle drug networks and bring offenders to justice.
