Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have apprehended a 44-year-old businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) for ingesting 53 wraps of cocaine while attempting to travel to Tehran, Iran.
Ezemokwe was intercepted on Saturday, June 7, while boarding a Qatar Airways flight QR1434 en route to Tehran Khomeini International Airport via Doha. Following a positive drug ingestion scan, he was placed under observation, where he eventually excreted six rounds totalling 53 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.172 kilogrammes.
Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, disclosed the arrest in a statement issued on Sunday. He stated that Ezemokwe confessed to being involved in the illicit drug trade for the past two years, operating between West Africa and Iran.
This arrest comes barely two weeks after NDLEA operatives intercepted another businessman, 60-year-old Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, for attempting to smuggle 65 pellets of cocaine to Iran.
In a related development, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, in collaboration with the Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), intercepted an Italy-bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, in the early hours of Saturday, June 14.
During routine baggage screening at the tarmac before his departure via Air France, security officials discovered a suspicious consignment concealed in his luggage. A thorough search revealed 14,410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg hidden inside winter jackets. Ali confessed that he resides in Italy and was recruited and sponsored to Nigeria to convey the illicit consignment to Milan for a fee of €2,000.
Also, in a major bust at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex (PHPC) in Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA officers, working alongside Nigeria Customs Service operatives and other agencies, intercepted a container on Friday, June 13, concealing 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares. The illicit consignment was estimated to have a street value of over N1.1 billion.
In a separate operation, a raid on a warehouse at Obereakai, Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State on Thursday, June 12, led to the arrest of three suspects—Friday Achibong Joseph, 47; Abraham Anthony Willy, 21; and Utibe David Okon, 24. Recovered from the facility was a total of 2,687 kilogrammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis.
Similarly, acting on intelligence, NDLEA officers in Bauchi State arrested Iriemi Imonikhe, 49, and Sa’idu Ladan, 30, along the Bauchi–Jos highway. Inside their Toyota Camry vehicle with registration number AKL 201 GG, officials discovered 195 blocks of skunk weighing 287kg.
Meanwhile, the Marine Command of the NDLEA seized 14 jumbo sacks of skunk, weighing 560kg, from a wooden boat on Oniru Beach, Lagos, on Thursday, June 12.
On the same day, officers at the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport, Maiduguri (MBIAM), arrested two businessmen, Ishaku Abdullahi, 30, and Buba Usman, 32. The duo was nabbed at the arrival hall of the domestic wing of the airport with various quantities of ecstasy pills and skunk concealed in colourful packaging branded as ‘Lychee’ and ‘Porro Legal.’
As part of the agency’s social advocacy, NDLEA commands across the country continued sensitisation under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative. Recent engagements include lectures at Command Secondary School, Orba, Uden LGA, Enugu; Divine Gift International School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Baptist Primary School, Ago-Are, Oyo; and St. Vincent Secondary School, Oti-Oron Okobo, Akwa Ibom State.
While commending the efforts of officers across MMIA, PHIA, MBIAM, PHPC, Marine, Cross River, and Bauchi Commands, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their dedication to maintaining a strategic balance between drug supply reduction and demand reduction nationwide.
