The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says it has dismantled an international cocaine trafficking network that allegedly used Nigeria as a transit point for distributing illicit drugs to the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and Asia.
The agency also arrested the alleged Nigerian leader of the syndicate, Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known as “KC Luxury,” who was reportedly attempting to leave the country.
According to NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the agency’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), disclosed the development while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.
Marwa described the investigation as one of the agency’s major recent narcotics operations, following the seizure of 184.50kg of cocaine.
He said the seizure was the largest quantity of cocaine intercepted through a courier company in Nigeria.
The operation began after NDLEA operatives intercepted a cocaine shipment concealed for export through a courier logistics channel in Lagos.
Following the seizure, Marwa ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team to trace the entire network behind the shipment, including couriers, intermediaries and alleged masterminds.
According to the NDLEA boss, the cartel expected to make as much as N39 billion from the consignment through its international distribution network.
Working with the management of the courier company involved, NDLEA investigators uncovered a network of intermediary companies and individuals allegedly used to process and move the drugs.
Two key suspects were subsequently arrested.
One of them, Lawal Mujab Kehinde, was identified as an employee of the logistics company through which the cocaine was processed.
Investigators allegedly discovered that Kehinde maintained a sustained relationship with the cartel’s Nigerian coordinator, processed and packaged consignments for the syndicate and facilitated their movement to the UK, Europe and Asia in return for cash payments.
The second suspect, Afolabi Kazeem Michael, known online as “KC Luxury,” was described by Marwa as the alleged Nigerian arrowhead of the cartel.
According to the NDLEA, Afolabi presented himself publicly as a social media influencer and businessman dealing in gold, jewellery and luxury goods, while allegedly using that image to conceal a cocaine trafficking operation stretching from South America through Nigeria to the UK, Europe and Asia.
Marwa said Afolabi was arrested at the boarding gate of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on August 13, 2026.
The arrest followed intelligence that he was preparing to leave Nigeria on a business-class flight to Paris.
The suspect was allegedly found with €7,750, £2,800 and N100,000 in cash, as well as expensive jewellery.
A subsequent search of his luxury apartment in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, reportedly led to the recovery of exotic vehicles.
The NDLEA also said investigations revealed that the cartel allegedly used fake identities to conceal the actual consignors of drug shipments and relied on financial facilitators to move billions of naira.
According to Marwa, the syndicate also had criminal contacts in the United Kingdom, some of whom had reportedly been arrested by British authorities in connection with the same network.
The operation was linked by the NDLEA to other recent investigations into transnational drug organisations, including the dismantling of the Switzerland-based Simon Amadi drug cartel, which allegedly used dark-web marketplaces to launder millions of dollars.
The agency also cited the recent dismantling of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine syndicates allegedly operating clandestine laboratories in forests across Ogun and Oyo states.
Marwa said the latest operation demonstrated that traffickers could no longer rely on luxury lifestyles, forests, ports or courier companies to evade law enforcement.
He noted that drug trafficking groups had increasingly shifted away from seaports and airports, where security scrutiny has intensified, towards courier and logistics companies that they allegedly considered less monitored routes for international drug shipments.
The NDLEA chairman said the successful operation, from the initial interception of the 184.50kg cocaine shipment to the arrest of the alleged Nigerian coordinator, demonstrated the agency’s ability to track trafficking networks regardless of where they operate.
Marwa also attributed the investigation’s success to international cooperation, noting that suspected members of the cartel were arrested in Nigeria and the United Kingdom at nearly the same time.
He commended NDLEA’s international partners and members of the Special Investigation Team, coordinated by the Director of Operations and General Investigation, for their role in dismantling the network.
Marwa warned individuals who allegedly use luxury brands, lavish lifestyles and social media personalities to disguise drug trafficking operations that the agency would continue to pursue them.
