NDLEA Intercepts Two Europe-Based Nigerians With Cocaine At Abuja Airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians living in Europe after they allegedly swallowed 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes while attempting to travel from Abuja to Paris, France.

The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, during the outward clearance of an Air France flight, AF 832, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, both men tested positive for drug ingestion during body scans and subsequently excreted all the cocaine under observation.

Odife, who reportedly lives in France and works in a factory, had arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday.

The agency said he admitted to swallowing 110 wraps of cocaine, which weighed 1.901 kilogrammes after he excreted them.

His co-traveller, Blackborn, also tested positive during a body scan and confessed to ingesting 90 wraps. The drugs, which he subsequently excreted, weighed 1.559 kilogrammes.

The arrests were among several operations carried out by the agency across the country, resulting in the seizure of large quantities of cannabis, controlled drugs and other substances, as well as the arrest of several suspects.

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two commercial buses conveying a total of 976 kilogrammes of cannabis, also known as skunk.

The first operation took place on Sunday, October 25, along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, where officers recovered 537 kilogrammes from a white Volkswagen LT 28 bus.

On the same day, another team intercepted a brown J5 bus along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway and seized 439 kilogrammes of the substance.

In Oyo State, two men, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on Thursday, October 29, while allegedly loading 554 kilogrammes of cannabis into a Volvo truck along Idere Road, Igboora.

The NDLEA said the operation targeted a suspected drug dealer known as Omo Oba, who escaped arrest on October 25 when operatives seized 309.5 kilogrammes of cannabis linked to him.

In Kano State, officers raided a location in the Tsamiya area of Gezawa on October 26, recovering 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilogrammes.

Two days later, operatives arrested Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, in the Dorayi area with 19,250 pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 13.6 kilogrammes.

The agency also reported the arrest of a woman, Aisha Isah, with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition during a patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

In another operation along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 tablets of diazepam and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.

In a separate raid at Tashan Banke, Kano State, NDLEA operatives arrested seven suspects, including Faisal Adamu, and recovered 178.85 kilogrammes of cannabis, alongside quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin.

In Ondo State, four suspects, including Bassey Okon, 24, Abraham Edet, 20, and Oto Udo, 24, were arrested during a raid on cannabis farms in Ijare Forest on October 25.

The operation led to the recovery of 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilogrammes.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South East Local Government Area, on October 28.

The agency said a cannabis plantation covering 1.646 hectares, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilogrammes, was destroyed.

A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested at the camp with 301 kilogrammes of processed cannabis, while another 176 kilogrammes was recovered during the operation.

In Sokoto State, operatives of the agency’s Zone 7 Command arrested a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, with 236.6 kilogrammes of cannabis on Saturday, October 31.

Reacting to the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), warned Nigerians living abroad against using their overseas residence as a cover for drug trafficking.

“The interception of the two cocaine couriers at Abuja airport is a fresh warning to those who think they can use their residence abroad as cover to traffic drugs across Nigerian borders,” Marwa said.

He added that officers at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant, warning that “there is no hiding place for anyone who chooses to risk their life and liberty by ingesting illicit drugs for a fee”.

Marwa commended officers of the agency’s commands in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo and Edo states for the operations.

He also urged them to sustain the fight against drug trafficking and intensify drug demand reduction campaigns through the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative.

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