The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has announced the arrest of one Amadi Simon in Switzerland, and two accomplices in Delta, for laundering money linked to proceeds of illicit drugs and financial crimes.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Thursday, said the arrests were made in collaboration with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (Lagos country office) and law enforcement partners from Switzerland, France, and Greece.

“Operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in close coordination with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Lagos Country Office, and law enforcement partners from Switzerland, France, and Greece, have successfully dismantled a Transnational Criminal Organisation involved in drug money laundering operations running into hundreds of billions of naira across Europe and Nigeria.

The “multi-country investigation” into the drug money laundering operations culminated in the “well-coordinated simultaneous arrest of a billionaire drug baron, Amadi Simon, in Switzerland and his co-conspirators: 34-year-old Jecinta Amara Ikechi, in Anambra, and 28-year-old Blessing Ngozi Amadi in Agbor, Delta”, on April 28.

“This followed months of intelligence and investigations across multiple jurisdictions linking Amadi to the laundering of hundreds of billions of Naira in proceeds of drug and financial crimes.

“In addition to the arrest of the suspects, the NDLEA, in collaboration with its international law enforcement partners, has also traced multibillion-naira assets linked to Amadi’s transnational criminal network in Nigeria and abroad. His operations in Nigeria included a complex scheme of front and shell companies; pass-throughs and delegates; and the use of numerous traditional and cryptocurrency accounts to conceal and launder illicit funds,” the NDLEA statement disclosed.

It added that properties identified and linked to Mr Simon as proceeds of illicit drug funds included Jovi Hotel at 1 Isiayei Street GRA Phase1, Asaba, Delta state; Jovi Hotel and Suites at 4 Orikeze by Deeper Life Road, Agbor, Delta state; as well as Jovi Apartment at Jamieson Court Mabushi, Abuja “while several bank accounts and cryptocurrency addresses used by the cartel to conceal hundreds of billions of illicit funds have also been identified and blocked”.