The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Europe-based Nigerian businessmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after they attempted to board a flight to Paris, France, with ingested cocaine.
The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, confirmed on Sunday that the suspects were intercepted during the outward clearance of an Air France flight. Body scans conducted by NDLEA officers confirmed foreign objects in their stomachs. While under observation, the duo excreted a total of 200 cocaine wraps weighing 3.46 kilograms.
One suspect, who claimed to work in France, ingested 110 pellets weighing 1.901 kilograms after arriving in Nigeria for a brief holiday. The second traveler confessed to swallowing 90 pellets weighing 1.559 kilograms.
In separate operations, NDLEA officers along the Abuja–Kaduna expressway arrested a woman at the toll gate carrying 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition. Additionally, along the Zaria–Kano expressway, officers intercepted a 68-year-old man at Gwargwaje, Zaria, in possession of 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 diazepam tablets, and 4,500 Exol-5 tablets.
Alongside operational enforcement, NDLEA commands nationwide continued War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities across secondary schools, places of worship, and communities in Lagos, Enugu, Kano, and Ogun states.
Commending officers across the affected commands, NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, warned illicit drug cartels that living abroad will not serve as cover for trafficking prohibited substances through Nigerian borders.
