By Onoja Baba, Nigeria
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a high-profile suspected drug kingpin, Reginald Peter Chidiebere, after he evaded justice for 13 years. Chidiebere, linked to multiple large-scale cocaine and heroin shipments, first came under NDLEA radar in 2013 when operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted consignments tied to him.
He was arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, but jumped bail shortly after being granted it and disappeared.
In February 2024, his name resurfaced as one of the alleged masterminds behind a 49.70-kilogram heroin consignment intercepted at the Lagos airport import shed. A follow-up raid on his Golden Platinum Hotel & Suites in Okota, Lagos, recovered 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. Unable to sustain life on the run, Chidiebere surrendered to NDLEA operatives on February 13, 2026.
He is now in custody facing both his original 2013 charges and fresh counts related to the 2024 heroin seizures.
In a separate major operation, NDLEA operatives in Imo State on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, raided and dismantled a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory hidden in Isiozi Obiato, Umuaka, Njaba Local Government Area. The bust yielded 18.4 kilograms of methamphetamine, large quantities of precursor chemicals, and production equipment, dealing a significant blow to synthetic drug networks in the South-East.
The agency also recorded other recent seizures and arrests: at Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, a Togolese woman, Hadiza Musa, was intercepted on February 27 with 5,000 tramadol pills concealed in her luggage; 1,040 kilograms of skunk cannabis were recovered from an uncompleted building in Akodo village, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, on February 25; in Kano, Ashiru Bala (45) was arrested on February 25 with 1,499 bottles of codeine syrup in his Volkswagen Golf car; and in Katsina, Yahaya Usaini (21) was nabbed on February 27 transporting 87.4 kilograms of skunk in a Toyota Hiace bus.
NDLEA officials described the operations as part of intensified nationwide efforts to disrupt drug supply chains and traffic
king syndicates.
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