The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians based in Europe for allegedly ingesting 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes while attempting to smuggle the illicit drug from Abuja to Paris, France.
The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, during the outward clearance of an Air France flight, AF 832, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The agency disclosed that the arrests followed body scans which revealed foreign objects in the stomachs of the two passengers.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Odife, who reportedly lives in France and works in a factory, arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday.
He was apprehended while preparing to return to France after a body scan confirmed that he had ingested illicit substances.
During interrogation, Odife reportedly admitted swallowing 110 pellets of cocaine. He was subsequently placed under observation and excreted all the wraps, which tested positive for cocaine and weighed 1.901 kilogrammes.
His co-traveller, Blackborn, was also arrested after a body scan confirmed that he had ingested the substance.
The agency said he confessed to swallowing 90 pellets of cocaine, which he subsequently excreted under observation. The recovered wraps weighed 1.559 kilogrammes.
Laboratory tests reportedly confirmed that all 200 wraps recovered from the suspects contained cocaine.
In a related operation, NDLEA operatives arrested a woman, Aisha Isah, with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition during a patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
In Kaduna State, operatives also arrested a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, at Gwargwaje, Zaria, along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 tablets of diazepam and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.
In another operation in the state, officers raided the Tashan Banke area, arresting seven suspects, including Faisal Adamu, and recovering 178.85 kilogrammes of cannabis alongside quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Lagos intercepted two vehicles conveying a combined 976 kilogrammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis.
The first seizure involved 537 kilogrammes recovered from a white Volkswagen LT 28 bus along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, on Sunday, October 25.
Another team intercepted a brown J5 bus along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway on the same day, recovering an additional 439 kilogrammes of the substance.
In Oyo State, two suspects, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on Thursday, October 29, while allegedly loading 554 kilogrammes of skunk into a Volvo truck along Idere Road, Igboora.
The operation followed an earlier seizure of 309.5 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, allegedly linked to a notorious drug dealer identified as Omo Oba, who reportedly escaped arrest on October 25.
In Kano State, NDLEA operatives raided a location in the Tsamiya area of Gezawa on Monday, October 26, recovering 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilogrammes.
Two days later, another team arrested Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, in the Dorayi area with 19,250 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 13.6 kilogrammes.
In Ondo State, operatives raided cannabis farms in Ijare Forest on October 25, arresting four suspects, including Bassey Okon, 24; Abraham Edet, 20; and Oto Udo, 24.
The operation led to the recovery of 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilogrammes.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives, working alongside soldiers, raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South-East Local Government Area of Edo State, on October 28.
The operation resulted in the destruction of a cannabis plantation covering 1.646 hectares, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilogrammes.
A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested at the camp with 301 kilogrammes of processed cannabis, while an additional 176 kilogrammes were recovered during the operation.
In Sokoto State, operatives of the agency’s Zone 7 Command arrested a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, with 236.6 kilogrammes of skunk on Saturday, October 31.
The agency also disclosed that its commands across the country sustained public awareness campaigns under its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative.
The sensitisation programmes were conducted in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities, including Obawole Grammar School II, Ojodu, Lagos; Nsukka High School, Enugu State; Government Technical College, Dorayi Babba Rijiyar Zaki, Kano State; and Ajagbe Comprehensive High School, Iperu, Ogun State.
Reacting to the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the agency’s commands involved in the operations.
Marwa described the arrest of the two cocaine couriers at the Abuja airport as a warning to Nigerians living abroad who might attempt to use their foreign residence as a cover for drug trafficking.
He said, “The interception of the two cocaine couriers at Abuja airport is a fresh warning to those who think they can use their residence abroad as cover to traffic drugs across Nigerian borders.”
The NDLEA chairman added that officers deployed at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant and would continue to prevent drug traffickers from exploiting Nigeria’s borders.
He urged personnel of the agency to sustain the ongoing crackdown on drug cartels while intensifying public enlightenment programmes aimed at reducing drug abuse.
According to figures released by the agency, the NDLEA arrested 77,792 suspected drug offenders, secured 14,225 convictions and seized more than 14.8 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs between 2021 and 2025.
