It is the end of the road for a notorious Nigerian drug baron, Patrick Udensi after he was caught in the UK. A jailed smuggler who imported drugs worth millions of pounds into the UK has been ordered to hand over £1.2m or have seven years added to his sentence.
A judge told Patrick Udensi, 36, from North London (pictured top), to pay the sum after National Crime Agency (NCA) officers discovered he had valuable assets in Nigeria.
Nigerian national Udensi is serving a 15-year prison sentence after smuggling parcels of cocaine and cannabis with street value of £1.8m to addresses in North London.
He laundered the proceeds of his crimes by buying car parts in the UK and shipping them to Nigeria where they were sold on the open market on his behalf.
If he fails to pay cash equal to the value of his Nigerian assets, which the NCA successfully argued in court were the benefit of a criminal lifestyle, he will have seven years and six months added to his sentence and will still owe the money when he comes out.
Udensi was convicted in 2015 following an NCA investigation. An associate, John Arinze Nwosu, 44, from Edgebaston, Birmingham (pictured bottom), absconded before trial and was sentenced to five years in prison in his absence.
The NCA are appealing for information on Nwosu’s whereabouts. The Nigerian drug baron, Patrick Udensi John Arinze Nwosu Udensi’s smuggling ring was discovered when Border Force officers detected a package mailed from St Maarten in the Caribbean to a North London address.
NCA border investigators found telephone and email evidence that Udensi headed up a group involved in at least 77 different parcel importations of cocaine and cannabis using 14 different destination addresses across north London.
He used Skype, Yahoo Messenger, iMessage and WhatsApp to communicate with drug distributors in Africa, Asia and South America.
Ian Truby, senior investigating officer for the NCA’s Heathrow border investigation team, said: “NCA officers will not let criminals serve their time and then fund luxury lifestyles with cash they made by exploiting people.
“We have worked hard in this case and others to find out how an offender has stored their criminal wealth so the courts can take it back from them.
“If Udensi pays up then he’ll get out of prison at the time he expected to. If not, it’s seven more years and the same bill at the end. It’s his choice.”
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Posted: at 27-09-2017 07:18 PM (7 years ago) | Addicted Hero
Wow. I am sure the Nigerian authorities knew of his CRIMINAL LIFESTYLE.
They just coiuldnt be BOTHERED to do anything about it. Most probably they got paid their OWN proceeds of his criminality. Why is it that FORIEGN agencies ALWAYS apprehend ALL our BIG TIME CRIMINALS whilst the authorities here in Nigeria ONLY catch the "SMALL BOYS?"
Being a Nigerian he will want to stay longer in prison AND hope when released he can DISAPPEAR off the radar of NCA border investigators.
Posted: at 27-09-2017 07:32 PM (7 years ago) | Gistmaniac
This is serious ooooo.... make person just dey observed, abeg I just dey waka pass make I just dey waka pass I will later comments jare life must goes on
Posted: at 27-09-2017 09:41 PM (7 years ago) | Hero
Loving this prosecutor intolerance for crime proceeds.This guy should be made to return whatever he has gotten along the years doing crime .What a significant way to say crime is unacceptable and offenders should desuade from criminality
Spare me
Posted: at 28-09-2017 12:37 AM (7 years ago) | Gistmaniac
Thieves. Which one come be jail sentence still come pay? Dude,If you dun triple the money pay up and enter legit business else no need to pay anything,hold the one wey you hold.
Posted: at 28-09-2017 04:49 AM (7 years ago) | Hero