President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Buba Marwa, over the agency’s recent “cocaine bust” in Lagos.

Earlier on Monday, the agency had said its operatives, in what “appears to be the biggest singular cocaine seizure”, seized an estimated 194-billion-naira worth of the illicit drug in Ikorodu area of Lagos.

A statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said President Buhari, who is currently in New York for the United Nations general assembly (UNGA), put a call through to Marwa, and told him he was impressed with the activities of the agency.

According to Adesina, after the call, the president also expressed satisfaction with the NDLEA’s effort during a meeting with members of the Nigeria’s delegation to the UNGA.

Yesterday, the anti-narcotics agency announced the bust of a major warehouse in an estate in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.

NDLEA Spokesman, Femi Babafemi said about 1.8tons of the illicit drug, worth more than $278 million 250 thousand that is over 194 billion naira were recovered.

Four barons, including a Jamaican and the warehouse manager, were also arrested in an intelligence-led operation that lasted two days across different locations in Lagos.

The kingpins are 69-year-old Soji Jibril, an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo; 65-year-old Emmanuel Chukwu, from Ekwulobia, Anambra; 53-year-old Wasiu Akinade, from Ibadan, Oyo; 53-year-old Sunday Oguntelure, from Okitipupa, Ondo and 42-year-old Kelvin Smith, from Kingston, Jamaica.

In an interview with Inspiration FM, Babafemi noted that they are all members of an international drug syndicate that the NDLEA has been trailing since 2018.