WANTED Drug Kingpin arrested after 13 years in hiding

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a notorious drug kingpin, Reginald Peter Chidiebere, who had been on the run for 13 years over cocaine and heroin trafficking.

The operatives also dismantled a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Imo State and intercepted major drug consignments across the country.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, disclosed on Sunday in a statement that Chidiebere was taken into custody on 13 February, 2026 after surrendering to NDLEA following years of evading justice.

Babafemi said Chidiebere was first arrested in 2013 over a cocaine shipment and arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, in charge number FHC/L/187c/2923.

He, however, jumped bail the same year and went into hiding.

He stated that the suspect resurfaced in February 2024 as one of the masterminds behind the importation of 49.70 kilograms of heroin from South Africa, which was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja.

Babafemi added that a follow-up operation on 19 February, 2024 at his Golden Platinum Hotel & Suites, located at No. 16/18 Reginald Peter Chidiebere Street, Hope Estate, Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, led to the recovery of an additional 2.20 kilograms of heroin from one of his guests, Igbuanugo Ebuka ThankGod.

“As a result of the 2024 seizures, the agency secured the interim forfeiture of his hotel and blocked all bank accounts traced to him. With his criminal network significantly disrupted, Chidiebere could no longer sustain himself in hiding and eventually surrendered to face his pending charges and fresh ones,” Babafemi said.