NDLEA Chairman and CEO, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), announced the arrest during a press event in Abuja yesterday, characterizing it as a significant step forward in the agency’s efforts to dismantle international drug trafficking syndicates. Marwa revealed that the NDLEA’s Special Operations Unit had been tracking Jeff after receiving an Interpol red notice and intelligence from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service. He stated that Jeff, the chief of a multinational drug trafficking organization, was wanted internationally for coordinating the transport of illegal narcotics into South Korea and other nations.

On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, we accomplished a key goal with the effective arrest of Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff,” Marwa stated. He stated that the suspect was nabbed at No. 3, Ibukunoluwa Taiwo Close, off LASU Road in Lagos, following years of surveillance. A search of the residence discovered multiple Nigerian international passports bearing different names, many with Korean visas, as well as a storeroom storing illegal drugs.

Jeff, according to Marwa, is more than just a domestic drug baron; he is also an international trafficker who has operated both within and outside Nigeria. Investigations revealed that he served a one-year prison sentence in South Korea in 2007 before being deported to Nigeria in 2008. Despite his deportation, he resumed his illicit activities, recruiting young Nigerians as couriers and laundering drug proceeds through the importation of electronics and other goods.

Marwa alleged that Jeff’s operations went beyond Nigeria, with syndicate members in Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and other parts of East and Southern Africa. The NDLEA determined that Jeff oversaw drug trafficking activities from afar, providing orders to drug mules and domestic suppliers. Marwa went on to explain how Jeff disguised 6,051.06 grams of skunk in dried chillies and jujube before sending the shipment from Burkina Faso to his Korean accomplice, Kim Dong Wook, in Jinju City, South Korea. The consignment, valued at about N1.4 billion, arrived at Incheon Airport on October 29, 2023.

Additionally, from December 2023 to April 2024, Jeff authorized two couriers, Santa Elizabeth Pieterse and Carl Yohan Stephan Brisman, to transport five kilogrammes of methamphetamine into South Korea. The suspect had another local carrier, “Asa,” who brought narcotics consignments to a warehouse run by Okori Emmanuel, a Nigerian who worked as Jeff’s supply manager in South Korea. Jeff’s illegal operations resulted in two arrest warrants issued by the Seoul Central District Court in 2024, accusing him with several drugs offenses punishable by life imprisonment under South Korea’s drugs Control Act. Marwa emphasized the NDLEA’s determination to ensure that Nigeria does not serve as a hub for worldwide drug trafficking.

“We will continue our relentless fight against illicit drug networks and their financiers, in line with our mandate to safeguard public health and national security,” he announced.