The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a man it describes as the Nigerian coordinator of an international cocaine trafficking network, catching him at the boarding gate of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos as he tried to leave the country.
Agency chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa said Afolabi Kazeem Michael, known publicly as KC Luxury and presented as a luxury goods dealer and social media personality, was picked up on the night of August 13 after intelligence indicated he was about to board a business class flight to Paris. Investigators allege he ran the Nigerian end of a network with ties stretching from South America through Nigeria into the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and Asia.
Marwa said operatives moved in on credible intelligence rather than waiting for the suspect to surrender himself. He was found carrying 7,750 euros, 2,800 pounds and 100,000 naira in cash along with expensive jewellery, and a subsequent search of his apartment on Banana Island turned up several exotic vehicles believed linked to his alleged trafficking proceeds.
The case began with the interception of a shipment containing 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine hidden for export through a Lagos logistics company. That seizure prompted the agency to set up a special investigation team to trace the network’s couriers, intermediaries, financial facilitators and masterminds, leading to the arrest of Lawal Kehinde, a staff member at the logistics firm accused of packaging and routing shipments for the syndicate in exchange for payment. Investigators say the group used shell companies and false identities to hide who was really behind its shipments, and relied on financial facilitators to move large sums on its behalf.
Marwa said related arrests had also taken place in the United Kingdom, calling the coordinated action across both countries evidence of effective international cooperation. He put the network’s expected earnings from the seized cocaine at around 39 billion naira, and said the case reflects a broader shift among traffickers away from ports and airports toward courier and logistics firms, which they apparently believed would draw less scrutiny.
He linked the operation to a string of recent cases, including the dismantling of a Switzerland based cartel accused of laundering drug proceeds through dark web marketplaces, and the disruption of two Nigerian Mexican methamphetamine syndicates running clandestine labs in forests in Ogun and Oyo states. Wealth, connections and a polished public image, he said, no longer offer traffickers protection from the agency, which he vowed would track suspects “to the departure gate if we must.”
