An Onitsha, Anambra State-based businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after 12 days of observation following his arrest at the local wing of the Lagos International Airport by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, August 8, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja. He was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, at about 10 a.m. the same day.
A statement by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said the suspect, who came under NDLEA surveillance following intelligence, had arrived in Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State, the previous day, August 7, and lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight the following morning.
He was then intercepted by NDLEA operatives, who placed him under observation, during which he excreted the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilograms over 12 days.
Another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on August 12, 2024, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha after testing positive for ingestion of cocaine.
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After four days under observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
Similarly, another Onitsha-based businessman, Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob, was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20 kilograms of cannabis concealed in a package destined for Dubai, UAE.
Babafemi said operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport. Investigations revealed that the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha. After a series of follow-up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday, August 17.
Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit in the NDLEA arrested five cross-border female drug traffickers at the Seme border while on their way back to Lagos from Ghana. The leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara, had been under NDLEA radar before being tracked and arrested on August 21, along with other members of her gang: Abogun Fatimah Ladidi, Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun, Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin, and Ajetumobi Amudalat.
At the point of their arrest at the Seme border, a total of 14 packs of “Loud,” a potent strain of cannabis weighing 6.97 kilograms, were recovered from hidden parts of their bodies.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Friday intercepted two containers that arrived from Mundra port in India. No fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319,200 bottles of the opioid, worth N2,234,400,000.00 in street value, were recovered from the containers during a joint examination with other port stakeholders.
Two women were arrested by operatives in Edo State for online sales of illicit drugs. Martha Owotorofa was nabbed at Kada Plaza, Benin City, with quantities of Canadian Loud, while Odion Uzordinma was arrested at Ugbowo area of the city with 30 cups of cookies and 17 slices of cake, all laced with illicit substances.
A raid operation at Oghada village, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of the state on August 20 led to the arrest of Saturday Edobor with 288.8 kilograms of cannabis.
In Lagos, a suspect, Godwill Davidson, was arrested on August 21 with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup, 5,200 pills of Co-Codamol, and 11,880 tablets of Rohypnol in the Mushin area of the state. Another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, was nabbed by operatives along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway in Kogi State the same day with 42,000 pills of tramadol coming from Asaba, Delta State, en route to Potiskum, Yobe State.
The NDLEA statement further noted that two suspects, Feranmi Bankole and Fredrick Tobiloba, were arrested on August 20 at Pariz Lounge, Adeoyo area in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, following intelligence, and 267.5 liters of “skuchies,” a mixture of black currant and assorted illicit drugs, along with 18 grams of Canadian Loud, were recovered from them.
