Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 62-year-old businessman at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) for attempting to smuggle nearly two kilograms of cocaine hidden within his body.
The suspect, identified as Nwabueze Nicholas Izueke, was apprehended on Saturday, January 31, 2026, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight destined for China via Addis Ababa.
A routine body scan of the Lagos-based businessman alerted officials to the presence of foreign objects in his digestive tract.
Under medical observation, Izueke eventually expelled 95 jumbo-sized wraps of cocaine, weighing a total of 1.589 kilograms, over the course of seven excretions. During interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime, stating that he turned to drug trafficking to fund the construction of a country home in Iwollo, Enugu State.
This high-profile arrest formed part of a broader nationwide crackdown led by Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), which has recently seen massive seizures of illicit substances in the FCT, Taraba, and Oyo states.
While the NDLEA continues to intercept creative smuggling methods including drugs hidden in yogurt packs and fuel tankers, the agency is also ramping up its “War Against Drug Abuse” (WADA) through community sensitization and advocacy visits to traditional rulers.
General Marwa commended the professionalism of the MAKIA team, noting that such vigilance is critical to the agency’s dual mission of supply and demand reduction.