After five years of importing illegal narcotics into Korea, an accused boss of an international drug syndicate based in Nigeria has been apprehended in Lagos.
The Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that the 59-year-old, known as K. Jeff, was arrested on February 13 after years of cooperation with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), according to Korea Times.
Thirty-six further cartel members were also apprehended.
In 2021, authorities reportedly located some cartel members based in Korea who were attempting to smuggle drugs from Ghana.
The suspects then shared key information about the cartel with Nigerian authorities and a team was dispatched to Nigeria to help find the headquarters.
Jeff was said to have been operating a drug trafficking network spanning five continents and tricking people, including Koreans, into transporting meth and other stimulant drugs.
He was convicted in Korea in 2007 for playing a major role in smuggling drugs and sentenced to 12 months in prison. He was then deported to Nigeria the following year.
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The suspect “expanded his international network to Asia, Europe, Africa as well as the Americas”, where he and his cartel members cultivate, manufacture and sell illicit drugs.
They reportedly used romance scams to deceive people into smuggling illicit substances across borders.
