NDLEA Nabs Iran-bound Businessman For Ingesting 53 Wraps Of Cocaine

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, heading to Iran with 53 wraps of cocaine ingested in his stomach.

This is coming barely two weeks after NDLEA at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, intercepted a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach.

44-year-old Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) for ingesting 53 wraps of the same class A drug while on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday, June 7, 2025, while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Khomeini in Iran via Doha.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said, “After a body scan proved positive to ingestion of illicit drug, he was placed on excretion observation during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172kg. The suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran.”

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, in the early hours of Saturday, June 14, intercepted an Italy-bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, on an Air France flight.

The NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the aviation security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), discovered drug consignments hidden in the luggage of the suspect during baggage scanning at the tarmac.

The suspect was thereafter brought down from the aircraft for baggage identification, after which a thorough search of the bag led to the discovery of 14,410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg concealed in winter jackets.

The NDLEA, in its statement, said, “Ebodor said he lives in Italy, where he was hired and sent on an all-expense-paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy, for a fee of 2000 Euros.”