Nigeria arrests influencer in $28.8m cocaine bust

Nigerian authorities have arrested online celebrity and influencer Afolabi Kazeem Michael after a cocaine seizure that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said was the largest ever found in a courier company in Nigeria.

The NDLEA said Michael was arrested at Lagos airport while trying to travel to Paris after authorities seized 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine that his suspected gang had allegedly tried to ship through a courier company.

NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said the cocaine had an estimated street value of about 39 billion naira, or about $28.8 million.

Authorities suspect Michael was the Nigerian “arrowhead” of a cartel using Nigeria as a transit hub to move cocaine from South America to the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Michael has more than half a million Instagram followers and describes himself as a celebrity jeweller and social media influencer.

The NDLEA said Lawal Mujab Kehinde, a staff member of the courier company, and several other people were also arrested on suspicion of working with the cartel.

NDLEA head Mohammed Buba Marwa said drug gangs had turned to courier companies because they saw them as a less monitored route for moving narcotics across borders.