Attempts by two drug kingpins to smuggle into Nigeria consignments of heroin through the Port Harcourt International Airport and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) have been foiled by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
One of the kingpins who used dual identities to aid his cross border movements, has a Nigerian passport with his original name: Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, 30, and that of Sierra Leone with a different name: Kargbo Mohamed Foday.
Sylvanus was intercepted by NDLEA officers with his Sierra Leonean passport on Sunday, February 2, 2025 at the Port Harcourt Airport in Rivers State during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight from Doha through Abuja to Port Harcourt.
He was subsequently taken for body scan, which confirmed he ingested illicit drugs and thereafter placed under excretion observation during which he expelled a total of 62 wraps of heroin in five excretions, weighing 1.348 kilograms.
A statement signed by the NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said investigation revealed Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus (alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday) alternated his two identities for different drug trafficking missions between Thailand, Pakistan, Iran and West African countries.
“He claimed to have gone full time into the illicit drug trade in 2017 when his clothing and shoe business went down,” Babafemi stated.
The second kingpin, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos Airport earlier on Saturday, February 1, upon his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. After a body scan confirmed illicit drug in his system, he was placed under excretion observation, during which he egested 63 wraps of heroin with a total weight of 909 grams.
“Chinoso had left Lagos to Madagascar on 26th January 2025 and returned via Addis Ababa after spending a week. He claimed to have gone into the criminal trade after his phone accessories business in Liberia collapsed,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, in other operarions, two parcels of 2.82 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United States with Lagos as destination were equally intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) at a courier firm in Lagos on Thursday, February 6. In another interdiction operation same day but in a different logistics company in Lagos, anti-narcotics officers intercepted 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection 225grams concealed in cartons heading to Canada.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Monday, February 3 arrested the duo of Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, both 23 years old, at Gadar Tamburawa along Zaria-Kano Road, where 15,396 pills of tramadol were recovered from a gas cylinder used to conceal the consignment. In another operation same day, operatives nabbed a female suspect, Chioma Okeke, 35, with 27 blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 15kg, at Sabon Gari area of Kano.
A consignment of 12,800 pills of tramadol 250mg going to Shuwarin in Jigawa state, was intercepted by NDLEA officers on patrol along Kabba-Obajana highway in Kogi state on Saturday, February 8 with a suspect, Salisu Basiru, 33, arrested.
Similarly, no fewer than 65 parcels of Colorado, a strong synthetic strain of cannabis with a total weight of 1.600kg also heading to Jigawa state, were recovered from another suspect, Rufai Hassan, 32 at the same check point same day.
The NDLEA spokesman noted that with the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Saint Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Taangayar Malam Abubakar Bichi, an Almajiri school, Bichi, Kano; Federal Government Girls College, Calabar, Cross River; College of Nursing and Science, Birnin Kebbi; and Meiran Community Junior Secondary School, Abule Egba, Lagos state among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHIA, DOGI, Kano and Kogi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts, were well appreciated.
