A 59-year-old suspected drug dealer and businessman, Chijioke Igbokwe, has undergone surgery, exploratory laparotomy, to let out 57 out of 81 pellets of cocaine stuck in his stomach after seven days of ingesting the illicit substance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Igbokwe was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday, January 26, 2025, faced a near-death situation after the drugs in his system failed to be excreted out.
After his arrest, Igbokwe was promptly taken for a body scan, which revealed illicit drugs in his system and was soon after taken into NDLEA custody for excretion observation.
Investigation revealed that Igbokwe, who claims to be into cloth business at Arena, Oshodi area of Lagos, departed Lagos on January 22 for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he ingested the 81 wraps of cocaine the following day, January 23 and boarded a flight to Beirut, Lebanon to deliver the illicit consignment for a fee of $3,000.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said, “Upon his arrival in Beirut, the suspect said he was refused entry because he had less than $2,000, the amount required to grant him entry and was then deported to Addis Ababa where he attempted excreting the illicit drugs but could not. He thereafter proceeded to Lagos on Saturday, January 25, with the consignment in his bowel.
However, NDLEA officers arrested him upon his arrival at the Lagos Airport on January 26.
“After five days under excretion observation, he could only expel 24 pellets following initial medical intervention at the agency’s medical facility and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja.
“With the clock ticking for him and the complication of other underlining medical conditions, the suspect was eventually admitted at the tertiary facility where he had to undergo exploratory laparotomy to extract the remaining 57 wraps of cocaine stuck in his stomach after his wife and brother endorsed the necessary consent forms on Thursday, January 30.
In all, a total of 81 pellets of the Class A drug with a gross weight of 1.943 kilograms were recovered from his stomach.”
Also, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday, January 29, intercepted a consignment of 2,000 kilograms of Ghanaian Loud, a strain of cannabis produced in Ghana, at Lekki Beach, where two suspects, Sunday Awoyede and Christopher Cletus, attempted loading them into a truck. The suspects, the skunk shipment and the van, were immediately taken into custody. Another suspect, Lawal Idris Olasunkanmi, was also arrested the same day with a 55kg skunk during a raid at his base in the Mushin area of Lagos.
