Intercepts illicit consignments, nabs 33 suspects in raids

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have thwarted an attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma to ingest 76 wraps of cocaine just hours before her return flight to India.

The student, a 200-level nursing student at Noida International University in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested at the Royal Park Hotel in Sabon Garin Kano on Thursday, January 16, 2025, while waiting to swallow the cocaine she intended to carry to India the following morning.

Uzodinma was set to fly from Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) on Qatar Airways Flight 1432 to Delhi on Friday, January 17, 2025. However, her plans were disrupted after NDLEA operatives intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie on the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State. Okorie, travelling in a commuter bus from Lagos to Kano, was carrying 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.34 kilograms hidden inside an audio speaker. He was allegedly en route to deliver the drugs to Uzodinma in Kano.

Following Okorie’s arrest, a swift follow-up operation led to Uzodinma’s capture in Kano. In her statement, the nursing student admitted to working for a drug cartel, which had recruited her while she was in India. She explained that she had been paid for her trip to Nigeria during the Christmas and New Year holidays, and to avoid her parents discovering her presence in the country, she stayed at hotels in Enugu, Abuja, and Kano. She was instructed to ingest the cocaine before boarding her flight back to India, where she was promised over $5,000 upon successful delivery of the drugs.

In other operations, NDLEA operatives arrested four suspects: Abdullahi Umar, Tijjani Samaila, Lucky Obotte, and Abubakar Haruna, along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway. They were found transporting over 38,000 pills of tramadol, concealed in audio speakers and clothing.

On Tuesday, January 14, 2025, NDLEA agents raided the hideout of 59-year-old Nwokedi Emeka Jonas in the Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos. They recovered 10 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.9kg, along with various paper bags used for retail distribution. Some of the bags bore street names such as ‘Dead man’, ‘Gelato top shelf smoke’, and ‘Gelato cake’.

Meanwhile, in Lagos, operatives also raided a house in the Igando New Town area of Alimosho on Wednesday, January 15. They arrested three suspects: Isaac Vincent, 32; Ebube Ikechi, 25; and Christopher Usifoh, 43, and seized 1,610kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis, as well as 6kg of tramadol pills. A delivery van and three other vehicles used for distributing the illicit substances were also recovered.

In another operation, NDLEA officers arrested Olashile Okoya and Mohammed Ibrahim on Saturday, January 18, at their home in Osapa, Lekki, Lagos. The raid led to the recovery of 28 kilograms of Canadian Loud.

Further seizures were made in Kano, where two suspects: Usama Adamu, 25, and Isah Ibrahim, 29, were arrested on January 17 with 7.6kg of skunk, 78 tubes of rubber solution, and 356 bottles of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance. Usman Isa, 29, was also arrested on Zaria Road in Kano with 49.8kg of skunk.

In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives arrested three suspects: Lawali Isiaka, Umoru Isiaka, and Mohammed Kabiru, on January 15 with 390 tablets of Molly and 65.5kg of cannabis in Bode Saadu, Moro Local Council. Another suspect, Samuel Ogbu, 24, was arrested with 25,000 pills of tramadol in Taraba State.

In Abuja, Rufa’i Hashimu, 27, was arrested in the Gwarimpa area with 118 bottles of codeine-based syrup. Thirteen others were arrested across various locations, including IDP camps and residential areas, with various quantities of tramadol, diazepam, and methamphetamine.