By Chukwudi Obasi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerian businessmen based in Europe for allegedly ingesting cocaine pellets and attempting to smuggle them to France through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The suspects were intercepted on Wednesday during the outward clearance of an Air France flight from Abuja to Paris.
They were arrested after body scans indicated foreign objects in their stomachs, leading to the recovery of 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.460 kilogrammes.
The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Babafemi said the first suspect, who lives and works in France, arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday.
He was arrested while preparing to return to France after a body scan confirmed that he had ingested 110 pellets of cocaine.
The suspect subsequently excreted all 110 wraps, which tested positive for cocaine and weighed 1.901 kilogrammes.
His co-traveller was also arrested at the airport after a body scan indicated that he had ingested narcotics.
The second suspect admitted swallowing 90 cocaine pellets and later excreted all the wraps, which weighed 1.559 kilogrammes.
The arrests were part of wider intelligence-led operations by the agency that resulted in major seizures and arrests across several states.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted a Volkswagen LT 28 bus along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, recovering 537 kilogrammes of skunk being transported from the Island to the Mainland.
Another operation along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway led to the seizure of 439 kilogrammes of skunk from a J5 bus.
In Oyo State, two suspects were arrested while loading 554 kilogrammes of skunk into a Volvo truck at Idere Road, Igboora.
The operation followed an earlier seizure of 309.5 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud linked to a suspected drug dealer identified as “Omo Oba”, who escaped arrest.
In Kano, operatives recovered 247,500 diazepam tablets weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 Exol-5 tablets weighing 38.7 kilogrammes in Tsamiya, Gezawa.
Another operation in Dorayi resulted in the arrest of two suspects with 19,250 tramadol 225mg pills weighing 13.6 kilogrammes.
At Tashan Banke, seven suspects were arrested, while 178.85 kilogrammes of cannabis and quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin were recovered.
In Ondo State, four suspects were arrested during a raid on cannabis farms in Ijare Forest, where 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilogrammes were recovered.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, destroyed a 1.646-hectare cannabis plantation at Eko Camp, Ilushi, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilogrammes.
A 50-year-old woman was arrested at the camp with 301 kilogrammes of processed cannabis, while another 176 kilogrammes was recovered during the operation.
In Sokoto, operatives arrested a 68-year-old man with 236.6 kilogrammes of skunk.
The agency also reported the arrest of a woman carrying 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
Separately, a 68-year-old man was arrested along the Zaria-Kano Expressway with thousands of controlled medicines, including pentazocine and diazepam injections and tablets.
NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, commended the officers involved in the operations and warned drug traffickers that foreign residence would not shield them from arrest.
Marwa said officers at entry and exit points remained vigilant, adding that there was “no hiding place” for anyone willing to risk their life and liberty by ingesting illicit drugs for money.
He directed personnel nationwide to sustain enforcement against drug trafficking while intensifying the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation programmes.
