NDLEA nabs Vietnam-bound businessman with 68 wraps of ingested cocaine

* NDLEA arrests two for online sale of drug-laced pastries in Edo
* Intercepts N2.2b codeine bottles in Lagos, smashes drug trafficking gang

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, a businessman based in Onitsha, Anambra State, at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

The spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said 36-year-old Ibeanusi excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after 12 days of observation. He said the suspect was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, August 8, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport. He was attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja. From Abuja, he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) at about 10:00 a.m. the same day.

The suspect, under NDLEA surveillance, had arrived in Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State, the previous day, August 7. He lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight the following morning. He was intercepted by NDLEA operatives and placed under observation. Over the next 12 days, he excreted 1.282kg of cocaine pellets.

Also, a 54-year-old businessman, Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on Monday, August 12. This occurred during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha after he tested positive for ingestion of cocaine.

After four days under observation, Mbadugha excreted 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710kg. 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 cannabis concealed in a package going to Dubai, UAE.

Operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport. Investigations revealed that the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha.

After a series of follow-up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday, August 17. Personnel of a Special Operations Unit in NDLEA arrested five cross-border female drug traffickers at the Seme border while on their way back to Lagos from Ghana. The leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara, had been under NDLEA’s radar before being tracked and arrested on Wednesday, August 21, along with other members of her gang: Abogun Fatimah Ladidi; Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun; Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.

At the point of their arrest, 14 packs of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 6.97kg, were found hidden in parts of their bodies. NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos intercepted two containers from Mundra port in India on Friday, August 23. They recovered 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319,200 bottles of the opioid. The street value of the seized drugs is estimated to be about N 2.2 billion. The interception took place during a joint examination with other port stakeholders.

Two ladies were also arrested by operatives in Edo State for the online sale of illicit drugs. While Martha Owotorofa, 26, was nabbed at Kada Plaza, Benin City, with quantities of Canadian Loud, Odion Uzordinma, 21, was arrested at the Ugbowo area of the city with 30 cups of cookies and 17 slices of cake, all laced with illicit substances.

A raid at Oghada village, Uhunmwonde Local Council of the state on Tuesday, August 20, led to the arrest of Saturday Edobor, 50, with 288.8kg of cannabis.
On Wednesday, August 21, in Lagos, a suspect named Godwill Davidson was arrested with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup, 5,200 pills of Co-Codamol, and 11,880 tablets of Rohypnol in the Mushin area of the state. Another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23, was also nabbed on the same day by operatives along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway in Kogi State. He was found with 42,000 pills of tramadol, coming from Asaba, Delta State en route to Potiskum, Yobe State.

Two suspects, Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were arrested on Tuesday, August 20, at Pariz Lounge in the Adeoyo area of the Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State. Authorities recovered 267.5 litres of skuchies, a mixture of black currant and assorted illicit drugs, along with 18gm of Canadian Loud from them.