NDLEA seizes 2,055kg of illicit drugs, arrests three
A 59-year-old businessman, Chijioke Nnanna Igbokwe, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, seven days after ingesting illicit substances in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He was apprehended during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday, January 26, 2025, after a body scan revealed drugs in his system. Igbokwe was immediately taken into NDLEA custody for excretion observation.
Investigations revealed that Igbokwe, who claims to be a clothing merchant at Arena Market, Oshodi, Lagos, departed Lagos on January 22 to Addis Ababa. There, on January 23, he ingested 81 wraps of cocaine and subsequently boarded a flight to Beirut, Lebanon, to deliver the consignment for a fee of $3,000.
Upon his arrival in Beirut, he was denied entry because he had less than $2,000, the minimum amount required for entry. He was deported to Addis Ababa, where he attempted to excrete the drugs but failed. He then travelled to Lagos on Saturday, January 25, still carrying the consignment in his bowel.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, disclosed that Igbokwe underwent surgery (exploratory laparotomy) to remove 57 out of 81 pellets of cocaine stuck in his stomach. This intervention came seven days after he ingested the substance in Addis Ababa.
After five days under excretion observation, Igbokwe was only able to expel 24 pellets despite initial medical intervention at the Agency’s medical facility and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.
With his condition deteriorating and time running out, he was admitted to a tertiary medical facility where the surgery was conducted on Thursday, January 30, following consent from his wife and brother.
In total, 81 pellets of cocaine, classified as a Class A drug, with a gross weight of 1.943 kilogrammes, were recovered from his stomach.
Also, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday, January 29, intercepted a consignment of 2,000 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud, a strain of cannabis produced in Ghana, at Lekki Beach, where two suspects, Sunday Awoyede and Christopher Cletus, were attempting to load it into a truck.
The suspects, along with the skunk shipment and the van, were immediately taken into custody.
Another suspect, Lawal Idris Olasunkanmi, was also arrested on the same day with 55 kilogrammes of skunk during a raid at his base in the Mushin area of Lagos.
