Two businessmen, Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, as well as a Canada-based nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, have been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, for attempting to import and export cocaine pellets and parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, through the airport.

Ihejirika, who frequently travels to Thailand, where he 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 ingested illicit drugs, which proved to be cocaine. Consequently, he was placed under excretion observation and expelled five large egg-sized wraps of cocaine weighing 400 grams.

In his statement, the 51-year-old suspect confessed that he was to be paid upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Thailand, stating he needed the money to boost his fish importation business.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport intercepted a 26-year-old businessman, Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, coming from Brazil via Addis Ababa on Thursday, October 17. His body scan revealed ingestion of illicit drugs. Under observation, he excreted a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grams. He confessed to ingesting 30 wraps of the illicit drug in Brazil but excreted 29 pellets in Addis Ababa, handing them over to another person. The suspect revealed he was to be paid N2.5 million for trafficking the drug.

Meanwhile, a Nigerian Canadian nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, was arrested by NDLEA officers at the Lagos airport on October 4 during the inward clearance of Air France passengers from Toronto, Canada, via Paris. A search of her luggage recovered 70 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 35.70 kg. During her interview, she claimed she was in Nigeria to meet her boyfriend, who instructed her to bring the large consignment of highly sought-after synthetic cannabis.

At the seaports, NDLEA operatives intercepted 162,351 bottles of codeine-based syrup from two containers at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on October 15. Additionally, 7,200,000 pills of Royal 225mg Tapentadol and Carisoprodol worth N3.6 billion were seized from a watch-listed container from India at Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state. The same container held 780 cartons of chlorphenamine containing 15,600,000 pills of the opioid.

From two other watch-listed containers searched at the port in Onne, 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N2.359 billion were recovered on October 15 and 17. This brings the total value of the seized Tapentadol, Carisoprodol, and Codeine consignments at the two seaports to N7,095,457,000.

Sunday Jonathan Ogenyi, 33, was arrested along Bauchi-Jos road with 76,600 pills of tramadol concealed in false compartments of his Toyota Sienna vehicle. In Ondo state, three suspects - Goddey Obizuo, Samuel Aniete, and Kuffrey Aniete - were arrested at Afo village, where 672 kg of cannabis sativa was seized.

A raid at Illushi forest in Esan South East LGA, Edo state led to the destruction of 10,590.36 kg of cannabis spread on 4.236144 hectares of farmland. Suspects arrested include Benson Upuoni, 65, and Sunday Nwaeboyi, 35.

In Lagos, Andrew Joseph Anoriode was arrested with 3 kg of methamphetamine and 1.90 kg of cannabis along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, while 241 kg of the same substance was recovered at Gbaji, Badagry area. A suspected meth cook, Agbeiboh Oscar, was arrested with 265 grams of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals.

The NDLEA continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities across the country, including enlightenment lectures at schools and advocacy visits to prominent figures.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of MMIA, PHPC, Apapa, Lagos, Bauchi, Ondo, and Edo Commands for their operational successes and balanced approach to drug supply reduction and demand reduction efforts.