Another businessman traveling to Vietnam secretes 68 wraps of cocaine at Lagos airport

A businessman from Onitsha, Anambra, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, has excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after 12 days of observation of the excretion after he was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Local Branch, MMIA Ikeja Lagos by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was killed in the early morning of Thursday 8^and August 2024 at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos Airport while trying to board the first flight from Lagos to Abuja where he was to board a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja at around 10am.

The suspect who came under the surveillance of the NDLEA following intelligence had arrived in Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State the day before, 7^and August and stayed at a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before leaving for the airport at 6:30 the next morning for a flight. He was then intercepted by NDLEA officers who took him to the excretion observation, where he spent the next 12 days excreting the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilograms.

Another businessman who was travelling to Vietnam, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA agents at Abuja airport on Monday, March 12.^and August 2024 during the outbound clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after testing positive for cocaine ingestion. After four days under observation, Mbadugha swallowed a total of 88 wraps of the illegal drug with a gross weight of 1,710 kilograms.

In the same vein, another Onitsha-based businessman, Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob, was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20kg of cannabis concealed in a parcel bound for Dubai, UAE. Operatives of the agency’s MMIA Strategic Command intercepted the consignment at the Lagos airport export warehouse while investigations revealed that the shipment was sent through a courier company in Onitsha. After series of follow-up operations, Aligbo was finally arrested on Saturday, 17th in Onitsha.^and August.

Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit in NDLEA have arrested five female drug traffickers at Seme border while they were on their way back to Lagos from Ghana. The leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara, was under the radar of NDLEA before he was tracked down and arrested on Wednesday 21^st August along with other members of her gang: Abogun Fatimah Ladidi; Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun; Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.

When they were arrested at the Seme border, a total of 14 packages of Loud, a strong cannabis strain weighing a total of 6.97 kg, were found hidden in places on their bodies.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at Tincan Seaport in Lagos on Friday 23^rd August intercepted two containers originating from Mundra Port in India. No fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319,200 bottles of the opioid worth Two Billion Two Hundred and Thirty-four Million Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N2,234,400,000.00) in street value were recovered from the containers during a joint investigation with other stakeholders at the port.

Two women were arrested by police officers in Edo State for selling illegal drugs online.

While Martha Owotorofa, 26, was nabbed at Kada Plaza, Benin City with quantities of Canadian Loud, Odion Uzordinma, 21, was arrested at Ugbowo area of ​​the city with 30 cups of biscuits and 17 pieces of cake, all laced with illegal substances. A raid operation at Oghada village, Uhunmwonde local government area of ​​the state on Tuesday, 20^and In August, Saturday Edobor, 50, was arrested with 288.8kg of cannabis.

In Lagos on Wednesday 21^st August was arrested with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup, 5,200 pills of Co-Codamol and 11,880 tablets of Rohypnol in Mushin area of ​​the state, while another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23, was nabbed by officers the same day along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway in Kogi State with 42,000 pills of tramadol originating from Asaba, Delta State, en route to Potiskum, Yobe State.

Two suspects: Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were arrested on Tuesday, 20^and August arrested at Pariz Lounge, Adeoyo area in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State following intelligence. They were recovered with 267.5 litres of skuchies, a mixture of blackcurrants and various illicit drugs and 18 grams of Canadian Loud.

In the same vein, the Agency’s Commandos and Units across the country have continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities in schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities, among others, in the past week. These include: WADA awareness lecture to students of Dan Amus Sangaya School, Sabon Layi, Gombi, Adamawa State; workers of transport companies in Garki Enugu, Enugu State; students and staff of Kaduna State School of Nursing, Kaduna, and WADA advocacy visit to the management of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

While commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Units, MMIA, Tincan, Lagos and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the continued balanced approach to the Agency’s counter-narcotics efforts.

Woman Babafemi

Director, Media & Law

NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja

Sunday 25^and August 2024