The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the arrest of Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, a businessman based in Onitsha, Anambra State, who excreted 68 wraps of cocaine over a period of 12 days following his arrest at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos.
According to a statement from Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters, the 36-year-old suspect was apprehended on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at the old domestic terminal of Lagos airport while attempting to board a flight to Abuja. Ibeanusi was scheduled to connect to a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja later that morning.
The NDLEA reported that the suspect had arrived in Lagos from Onitsha, Anambra State, on August 7, 2024, and stayed overnight in a hotel where he swallowed 68 wraps of cocaine.
He was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the airport and subsequently placed under excretion observation, where he expelled the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilogrammes over the next 12 days.
In a separate incident, another businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested at the Abuja airport on August 12, 2024, during the clearance process for a Qatar Airways flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. Mbadugha tested positive for cocaine ingestion and excreted 88 wraps of the drug, weighing 1.710 kilogrammes, after four days of observation.
Additionally, NDLEA operatives arrested Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob, another businessman from Onitsha, after seizing a consignment of 1.20 kilogrammes of cannabis concealed in a package destined for Dubai, UAE. The consignment was intercepted at the export shed of the Lagos airport, and Jacob was later apprehended in Onitsha on August 17, 2024, following a series of operations.
Meanwhile, five female cross-border drug traffickers were arrested by NDLEA’s Special Operations Unit at the Seme border while returning to Lagos from Ghana. The syndicate, led by 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara, had been under surveillance before their arrest on August 21, 2024.
The operatives recovered 14 packs of “Loud,” a potent strain of cannabis weighing 6.97 kilogrammes, hidden on their bodies.
Furthermore, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos intercepted two containers arriving from Mundra port in India on August 23, 2024. The containers held 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319,200 bottles, valued at approximately N2.23 billion in street value. The seizure was made during a joint examination with other port stakeholders.
In Edo State, two women were arrested for selling illicit drugs online. Martha Owotorofa, 26, was caught with quantities of Canadian Loud at Kada Plaza, Benin City, while Odion Uzordinma, 21, was found with 30 cups of cookies and 17 slices of cake laced with illicit substances. Another operation in Oghada village, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area, on August 20, 2024, resulted in the arrest of 50-year-old Saturday Edobor, who was found with 288.8 kilogrammes of cannabis.
In Lagos, Godwill Davidson was arrested on August 21, 2024, with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup, 5,200 pills of Co-Codamol, and 11,880 tablets of Rohypnol in the Mushin area. In Kogi State, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23, was detained along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway with 42,000 pills of tramadol en route from Asaba, Delta State, to Potiskum, Yobe State.
In Oyo State, two suspects, Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were arrested on August 20, 2024, at Pariz Lounge in Ibadan. Recovered from them were 267.5 litres of skuchies (a mixture of black currant and assorted illicit drugs) and 18 grammes of Canadian Loud.
Reacting to these developments, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the agency’s officers and units involved in these operations. He urged them and their colleagues nationwide to maintain their commitment to the agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.
