The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Europe-based Nigerian businessmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after they ingested 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes in a bid to smuggle the drugs to Paris, France.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed on Sunday that the suspects, Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were arrested on October 28 during the outward clearance of an Air France flight. Odife excreted 110 wraps weighing 1.901kg, while Blackborn excreted 90 wraps weighing 1.559kg after body scans confirmed they had ingested illicit substances.
In Lagos, operatives intercepted two buses conveying 976kg of skunk, a potent cannabis strain, along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, and the Gbagada–Oshodi Expressway on October 25.
In Oyo State, two suspects, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on October 29 while loading 554kg of skunk into a truck at Idere Road, Igboora.
The operation targeted a suspected drug dealer identified as Omo Oba, who had escaped arrest days earlier when 309.5kg of cannabis known as Ghanaian Loud was seized.
In Kano State, NDLEA operatives recovered 347,500 tablets of diazepam, Exol-5 and tramadol in separate operations and arrested four suspects across the raids.
Another operation at Tashan Banke led to the arrest of seven suspects and the seizure of 178.85kg of cannabis, alongside other controlled substances.
Along the Abuja–Kaduna Expressway, operatives arrested Aisha Isah with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition. On the Zaria–Kano Expressway, a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 diazepam tablets and 4,500 Exol-5 tablets. In Sokoto, another 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, was arrested with 236.6kg of skunk.
In Ondo State, four suspects were arrested during a raid on cannabis farms in Ijare Forest, where 180kg of processed cannabis was recovered. In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, destroyed a 1.646-hectare cannabis plantation in Eko Camp, Ilushi, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53kg. A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested with 301kg of processed cannabis, while another 176kg was recovered during the operation.
The NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and warned drug traffickers against using foreign residence as cover for cross-border smuggling. He urged personnel nationwide to sustain enforcement operations and intensify the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities.
