NDLEA Arrests Two Europe-Based Nigerians with 200 Cocaine Wraps at Abuja Airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians living in Europe after they allegedly swallowed 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes while attempting to travel from Abuja to Paris, France.

The suspects were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, during the outward clearance of an Air France flight, AF 832, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, both men tested positive for drug ingestion during body scans. They subsequently excreted all the cocaine under observation by agency officers.

One of the suspects, who reportedly lives in France and works in a factory, had arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday. The agency said he admitted swallowing 110 wraps of cocaine, which weighed 1.901 kilogrammes after they were recovered.

His co-traveller also tested positive during a body scan and confessed to ingesting 90 wraps. The recovered cocaine weighed 1.559 kilogrammes, bringing the total seized from both men to 3.46 kilogrammes.

The arrests formed part of a series of anti-drug operations conducted by the agency across several states. In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two commercial buses carrying a combined 976 kilogrammes of cannabis, popularly known as skunk. The first seizure involved 537 kilogrammes recovered from a Volkswagen LT 28 bus along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, on October 25. Another 439 kilogrammes was seized from a J5 bus along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway the same day.

In Oyo State, two men were arrested on October 29 while allegedly loading 554 kilogrammes of cannabis into a Volvo truck along Idere Road, Igboora. The agency said the operation targeted a suspected drug dealer identified as Omo Oba, who had reportedly escaped arrest four days earlier when operatives seized 309.5 kilogrammes of cannabis linked to him.

NDLEA operatives also recovered large quantities of controlled drugs in Kano State. A raid in the Tsamiya area of Gezawa on October 26 led to the seizure of 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilogrammes. Two suspects were later arrested in the Dorayi area with 19,250 tramadol 225mg pills weighing 13.6 kilogrammes.

Other operations included the arrest of a woman allegedly found with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition during a patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway. Along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, a 68-year-old man was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 diazepam tablets and 4,500 Exol-5 tablets. In another raid at Tashan Banke, Kano State, seven suspects were arrested, with 178.85 kilogrammes of cannabis and quantities of other controlled substances recovered.

In Ondo State, four suspects were arrested during a raid on cannabis farms in Ijare Forest on October 25, leading to the recovery of 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilogrammes. In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South East Local Government Area, on October 28. The agency said a cannabis plantation covering 1.646 hectares, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilogrammes, was destroyed. A 50-year-old woman was arrested with 301 kilogrammes of processed cannabis, while another 176 kilogrammes was recovered during the operation.

In Sokoto State, operatives of the agency’s Zone 7 Command arrested a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, on October 31 with 236.6 kilogrammes of cannabis. Reacting to the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa warned Nigerians living abroad against using their overseas residence as cover for drug trafficking. He said officers at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant and urged the agency’s commands to sustain enforcement operations and drug demand reduction campaigns under its War Against Drug Abuse initiative.