NDLEA Nabs 2 Businessmen With 193 Cocaine Pellets At Abuja Airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja have arrested two businessmen for cocaine ingestion and excretion of 193 pellets of the illicit drug after three days in observatory custody.

The traffickers: Onoh Ebere, 49, and Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji, 47, were intercepted at the Abuja airport on Wednesday, 10th May, 2023 on arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said, “Though both suspects have businesses they manage in Nigeria, their main source of income has been drug trafficking.

“They both travelled to Uganda and from there crossed over to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where they picked the consignments before returning to Abuja with Lagos as their final destination.”

After days in excretion room, Onoh excreted a total of 100 pellets weighing 2.137kg while Ogbuji expelled 93 pellets hidden in his stomach with a gross weight of 1.986kg.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives have raided two notorious drug joints, Zaro bunk in Bama road, Sabongari and the Sani Abacha indoor stadium, both in Kano metropolis where a total of 160 suspects were arrested with different quantities of illicit substances.

Also, two suspects: Abubakar Sallau, 55, and Nazifi Abdullahi, 25, were arrested on Saturday 13th May, along Kano-Maiduguri road, with 5,000 pills of Tramadol 200mg, while a total of 65,200 tablets of tramadol and exol-5 were seized from the duo of Adamu Nagati, 30, and Ali Nasiru, 35.

This is even as operatives in Abuja also arrested 25 suspects in raids across Tora Bora, Gwarinpa village, 3rd avenue in Gwarinpa, Karamo, Garki market, Sabongari Bwari and New Kucigoro IDP camp, within the FCT.

However, another bid to smuggle into Lagos a consignment of 24kg cannabis indica concealed in imported used cars from Canada was again frustrated by NDLEA operatives who seized the illicit substance on Thursday, 11th May, 2023, during a joint 100 per cent examination of a container marked, MSMU 7412069, at the Prime Connection Bonded terminal, off Oshodi-Apapa expressway.

Two clearing agents linked with the container, Chief G.O. Njokwu and Mr Christopher Obialor, have been arrested in collaboration with men of Customs Service.

In the same vein, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to courier firms have intercepted a Saudi Arabia-bound 398 grammes of cocaine hidden in native dresses during outward clearance of goods.

A female suspect, Fatima Hassan was arrested on Friday, 12th May, 2023, at Agege, Lagos with 33.5kg of cannabis sativa, while 44kg of the same substance was recovered same day from the Lagos Island warehouse of a fleeing drug dealer.