Ibeanusi Nosike, a businessman based in Onitsha, Anambra State, has excreted 68 packets of cocaine after being kept under surveillance for 12 days following his arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
According to a statement by the spokesperson of the anti-drugs agency, Femi Babafemi, 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, August 8, 2024, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos Airport while attempting to board the first flight from Lagos to Abuja, where he was scheduled to board a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at about 10am at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport the same day.
He said the suspect, who came under NDLEA surveillance based on intelligence, arrived in Lagos the previous day, August 7, from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State and stayed overnight in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 packets of cocaine before leaving for the airport to board his flight at 6:30 a.m. the next morning.
However, he was intercepted by NDLEA agents and taken to excretion observation, where he spent 12 days excreting 1.282 kilograms of cocaine pellets.
Ibeanusi Nosike was the second person to be arrested with drugs en route to Vietnam in a matter of days. Previously, another businessman bound for Vietnam, 54-year-old Paul Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA agents at Abuja Airport on Monday, August 12, 2024, while boarding Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he was tested for cocaine.
After four days under observation, Mbadugha had sucked out a total of 88 packets of the illegal drug with a total weight of 1,710 kilograms.
Babafemi said another Onitsha-based businessman, Aligbo Chukwudi, was arrested by NDLEA agents after they seized a consignment of 1.2 kilograms of cannabis hidden in a parcel bound for Dubai, UAE.
He said operatives of the NDLEA MMIA Strategic Command intercepted the consignment at the export hall of the Lagos airport while investigations revealed that the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha. After a series of tracking operations, Aligbo was finally arrested in Onitsha on Saturday, August 17.
The spokesman also disclosed that operatives of a special unit of the NDLEA arrested five female cross-border drug traffickers at the Seme border while they were on their way back to Lagos from Ghana. He said the leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Olaribigbe Feyisara, was already under the radar of the NDLEA before she was tracked down and arrested last Wednesday along with other members of her gang: Abogun Ladidi, Osibeluwo Tolulope, Akanni Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.
Babafemi said that when they were arrested at the Seme border, a total of 14 packets of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 6.97 kilograms, were found hidden in their bodies.
He said NDLEA agents intercepted two containers coming from Mundra Port in India at Tincan Seaport in Lagos last Friday. A joint investigation with other port stakeholders found no fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine syrup and 319,200 bottles of the opioid with a street value of over 2.2 billion naira in the containers.
He said two women were arrested by officials in Edo State for selling illegal drugs online, adding that 26-year-old Martha Owotorofa was arrested at Kada Plaza in Benin City with large quantities of Canadian Loud and 21-year-old Odion Uzordinma was arrested at Ugbowo area of the city with 30 tubs of biscuits and 17 pieces of cake, all laced with illegal substances.
He said a raid in Oghada village in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of the state last Tuesday led to the arrest of 50-year-old Saturday Edobor with 288.8 kilograms of cannabis.
In Lagos, last Wednesday, suspect Godwill Davidson was arrested with 3,834 bottles of Codeine Syrup, 5,200 tablets of Co-Codamol and 11,880 tablets of Rohypnol in Mushin area of the state, while another suspect, 23-year-old Yahaya Ibrahim, was arrested on the same day by officers along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway in Kogi State with 42,000 tablets of Tramadol coming from Asaba in Delta State en route to Potiskum in Yobe State.
Babafemi said two suspects: Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were arrested last Tuesday at Pariz Lounge, Adeoyo area of Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, following intelligence information and recovered R
These included 267.5 litres of Skuchies, a mixture of blackcurrants and various illegal drugs, and 18 grams of Canadian Loud.
He announced that the agency’s commands and formations across the country continued their War on Drug Abuse (WADA) awareness-raising activities in schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities over the past week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd.) commended the officers and men of the Special Forces, MMIA, Tincan, Lagos and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their skill, and urged them and their counterparts across the country to continue the agency’s balanced approach in its drug control efforts.
Michael Olugbode
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