NDLEA intercepts ex-convict with cocaine worth N4.6 billion

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a drug deal

a 48-year-old businessman, Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos for importing 817 wraps of Class A cocaine weighing 19.40 kilograms with an estimated street value of N4,656,000,000.00.

This comes just 16 months after he was arrested and convicted of taking 93 grains of cocaine.

The 48-year-old businessman, Ogbuji, was first arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, upon arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, on board Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 951, for allegedly seizing 93 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.986kg gross.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said he was subsequently summoned before the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon with charge number: FHC/ABJ/CR/192/2023 and sentenced on July 13, 2023.

Ogbuji was sentenced to two years imprisonment with the possibility of paying a fine of N3,000,000.00. He paid the fine and was released.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the seized 1,986 kilograms of cocaine, his international passport, US$14 and Ugandan shillings 9,000 found on him upon his arrest.

Babafemi said he was not done with the crime; Ogbuji was arrested again on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at Lagos airport, during a check on passengers of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Lagos.

He further explained that “the suspect approached the joint examination table with a black travel bag, which was searched by an NDLEA officer who searched the luggage. In a dubious move, Ogbuji sneaked back to the carousel area to place in the searched bag a black backpack he had left on the conveyor belt.

“As he exited the arrivals hall, he was intercepted by vigilant NDLEA officers and subjected to a second search. Subsequently, large wraps of excreted cocaine were found hidden in the backpack previously found with the suspect. A total of 817 pellets of cocaine excreted by many traders in Addis Ababa were recovered, weighing 19.40 kg and belonging to various members of a drug cartel.

“During interrogation with the suspect, he stated that he initially left the backpack containing the drugs at the carousel as a strategy to outwit NDLEA operatives, adding that he never knew that a second search would take place as he had previously submitted his bag for search and nothing incriminating was found. He claimed that he needed to obtain a new international passport to continue his criminal trade.”

NDLEA investigations have revealed that Ogbuji is an unrepentant kingpin within the drug cartels network operating between Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and other West African sub-regions such as Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast.