Chinese arrested in Lagos for leading drug trafficking syndicate

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 58-year-old Chinese man Tianzhen Yen (alias Jackie), for allegedly leading an international drug syndicate. The spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement in Abuja, said the drug syndicate operated by Yen was dismantled by NDLEA operatives following his arrest […]

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 58-year-old Chinese man Tianzhen Yen (alias Jackie), for allegedly leading an international drug syndicate.

The spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement in Abuja, said the drug syndicate operated by Yen was dismantled by NDLEA operatives following his arrest at his hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.

“Officers of the Seme Special Area Command of the agency had on Thursday 21st November intercepted a 40-year-old suspect, Yakubu Emmanuel Mark, in a commercial bus going to Ghana at the Gbaji checkpoint along Badagry-Seme expressway based on credible intelligence.

 “When he was searched, a total of 750 grams of cocaine were found in his bag. A swift follow-up operation was organised to trace and arrest the kingpin behind the trans-border drug trafficking syndicate, who turned out to be a Chinese citizen, Tianzhen Yen.

“He (Yen) was eventually traced to MC Hotel, behind Alade market, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. When his hotel room was searched, 4.3 grams of cocaine; a gram of methamphetamine; two electronic weighing scales; and a Chinese National Identification Number Card, among other exhibits were recovered while he was arrested in the vicinity of the hotel,” Babafemi said.

Also, NDLEA operatives have arrested a 50-year-old businessman, Osuoha Christian Iheanacho, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for ingesting 90 wraps of cocaine.

Osuoha was intercepted on Wednesday, November 28, 2024, at the arrival hall of the airport during the inbound screening of passengers arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight following months of intelligence and surveillance on him.

He was subsequently placed on excretion observation during which he excreted 90 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.019kgs in seven excretions.