NDLEA arrests two businessmen and a Canadian nurse for drug trafficking at Lagos airport – News – The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

Seized over N7b worth of opioids at Apapa and Onne ports

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two businessmen, Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, and a Canada-based nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on charges of attempted drug abuse Importing and exporting cocaine pellets and packets of “Loud,” a synthetic strain of cannabis.

Ihejirika, who regularly travels to Thailand and claims to import fish into Nigeria, was arrested on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A body scan revealed he had used illegal drugs, later identified as cocaine. While observing the excretion, he expelled five large, egg-sized packets of cocaine weighing 400g.

The 51-year-old suspect confessed that he was supposed to be paid to deliver the drugs in Thailand, claiming he needed the money to finance his fish import business.

In another incident, NDLEA operatives intercepted 26-year-old businessman Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, who arrived via Addis Ababa on Thursday, October 17, while processing passengers of an Ethiopia Airlines flight from Brazil.

A body scan confirmed he had used cocaine and later spit out a pellet weighing 22 grams. He admitted taking 30 wraps of cocaine in Brazil, but excreted 29 wraps of cocaine in Addis Ababa, where he handed them over to another person. He was supposed to pay 2.5 million naira for the drug trade.

Likewise, on October 4, Nigerian-Canadian nurse Usman Grace Khadijat Olami was arrested by NDLEA officers while processing Air France passengers from Toronto, Canada via Paris.

During a search of her luggage, 70 packages of “Canadian Loud” weighing 35.70 kg were discovered. She claimed her boyfriend instructed her to bring the sought-after synthetic cannabis to Nigeria.

In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives, along with Customs and other security agencies, intercepted 162,351 bottles of codeine-based syrup from two containers at Apapa Seaport in Lagos on October 15.

Furthermore, on the same day, 7.2 million tablets of Royal 225mg Tapentadol and Carisoprodol worth N3.6 billion were seized from a watchlisted container from India at the Port Harcourt port complex in Rivers State.

The container also contained 780 boxes of chlorpheniramine, consisting of 15.6 million opioid tablets. Further seizures from two other containers at Onne Port included 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth 2.36 billion naira. The total street value of the consignments of Tapentadol, Carisoprodol and Codeine seized at both ports is estimated at 7.1 billion naira.