Nigeria arrests influencer Afolabi Kazeem Michael in major cocaine bust

Nigerian authorities have apprehended influencer Afolabi Kazeem Michael in a significant cocaine bust, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The NDLEA announced that Michael, an online celebrity and jeweler, was apprehended at Lagos airport while attempting to flee to Paris with 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine.

The seized drugs, valued at approximately 39 billion naira (about $28.8 million), mark the largest cocaine seizure from a courier company in Nigerian history, as stated by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi.

Michael is believed to be the Nigerian arrowhead of a cartel that uses Nigeria as a transit point to move cocaine from South America to the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia. The arrest of Michael, who boasts over half a million Instagram followers, comes amid concerns that drug gangs have increasingly turned to trafficking their narcotics through courier companies, exploiting their perceived softer and less monitored status for international border crossings.

The operation involved the arrest of Lawal Mujab Kehinde, a staff member of the courier company, and several others suspected of collaborating with the cartel. Ports along West Africa's coasts have become popular stopover points for transcontinental cocaine shipments heading towards Europe, with some drugs slipping into domestic drug markets.

Recent years have seen West Africa serve as a crucial transit point for drugs moving from South America to Europe, often via Mexico. In May, Nigerian authorities dismantled the country's largest-ever industrial-scale methamphetamine lab in a remote forest, arresting nine suspects, including three Mexican nationals. Another meth lab was uncovered in a forest in southwestern Oyo state the following month.

Authorities are wary of Mexican cartels establishing a presence in Nigeria to produce and ship methamphetamine out of the country.