NDLEA arrests 3 men with 156 wraps of cocaine at Lagos, Abuja airports

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a businessman who allegedly excreted 68 wraps of cocaine at the local wings of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.

The NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja that the Onitsha, Anambra state based-businessman, Ibeanusi Nosike excreted the cocaine after 12 days of excretion observation.

Babafemi said that the 36-year-old Nosike was arrested at the early hours of Thursday, August 8, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport.

This, he said, was while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja at about 10am same day.

“The suspect who came under NDLEA surveillance following intelligence had arrived Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra state the previous day, Aug. 7.

“The suspect lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30am flight the following morning.

“He was thereafter intercepted by NDLEA operatives who moved him into excretion observation where he spent the next 12 days excreting the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilograms,”he said.

Meanwhile, another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Mbadugha had been arrested by the NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja on Aug. 12.

Babafemi said that Mbadugha was arrested during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.

“After four days under observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms,” he said.

In the same vein, another Onitsha based businessman, Chukwudi Aligbo was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20kg cannabis concealed in a package going to Dubai, UAE.

Babafemi said that Operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency had intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport while investigations revealed the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha.

“After series of follow up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday, Aug. 17,” he said.