Colombian authorities worked with the FBI to arrest Nigerian nationals, Joseph Chinedu okparaejesi, Alias Alen, allegedly suspected transnational drug traffickers at the El Dorado International Airport in Bogota.
Okparaejesi, who had lived in Colombia for more than 12 years, arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, after an in-depth investigation by Dijín (Intelligence Department of the Colombian Police Department) and the Office of the Attorney General.
The suspect is a businessman in the beauty industry but is allegedly coordinating a large-scale cocaine shipment to Spain.
Authorities revealed that Okparaejesi has funded drug procurement and oversight operations involving human couriers and specially designed double-bottom suitcases to smuggle narcotics.
His arrest was facilitated by intelligence from detained drug sons to Spain, who disclosed details of the Nigerian network.
As a result of this breakthrough, 15 other people related to his actions were also arrested.
The survey shows that Okparaejesi married Colombian women in the parish of Nuestra Señora De Fátima in Bogota in 2012.
He reportedly started a business engaged in hair extensions near Ciudad de Cali Avenue called “Nigerian African”.
The suspect’s close accomplice told El Tiempo that Nigerians rarely leave Colombia and travel to Africa to visit his family about every two years.
“The last time we spoke, he told us he was in Ghana,” a colleague said.
The National Institute of Prisons and Prisons of Columbia (INPEC) confirmed his detention on charges of drug trafficking, production and distribution against him.
