Canadian Nurse, others Arrested for Drug Trafficking as NDLEA Intercepts N7 Billion Worth of Opioids at Nigerian Seaports
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended two Nigerian businessmen and a Canada-based nurse at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, for attempting to smuggle cocaine and Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis.
In a statement signed by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy at the NDLEA, the Agency said these arrests occurred between the 4th and 17th of October, as part of a broader crackdown on drug trafficking across Nigeria.
The first suspect, 51-year-old businessman Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel, was arrested on 15th October while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa.
Upon being subjected to a body scan, NDLEA officers discovered that he had ingested five large egg-sized wraps of cocaine, weighing 400 grams.
During interrogation, Ihejirika confessed that he had accepted the dangerous job to fund his fish importation business, which he runs between Thailand and Nigeria.
Just days later, another businessman, Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, 26, was apprehended during the inward clearance of passengers arriving from Brazil via Addis Ababa.
A body scan revealed that he had ingested a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grams.
Iwuagwu confessed to having swallowed 30 wraps of the drug in Brazil, though he had excreted 29 of the pellets in Addis Ababa and handed them to an accomplice. He was expecting a payment of N2.5 million for the job.
In a separate operation on 4th October, NDLEA officers at Lagos Airport arrested Canadian-based nurse Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, who was arriving from Toronto via Paris.
A thorough search of her luggage revealed 70 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing a total of 35.70 kg. During questioning, the nurse disclosed that her boyfriend had instructed her to deliver the cannabis to Nigeria.
Beyond the airport, NDLEA officers made significant seizures at Nigerian seaports.
On 15th October, a joint operation at Apapa seaport, Lagos, led to the interception of 162,351 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
At Onne Port, Rivers State, a container from India yielded 7.2 million pills of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol, valued at N3.6 billion.
Additional seizures at Onne uncovered 780 cartons containing 15.6 million pills of chlorphenamine and 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup, bringing the total street value of the seized opioids to N7.09 billion.
NDLEA operatives also extended their operations inland. In Bauchi State, 33-year-old Sunday Jonathan Ogenyi was arrested with 76,600 pills of tramadol hidden in false compartments of his vehicle.
In Ondo State, a raid at Afo village led to the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of 672 kg of cannabis sativa.
Meanwhile, in Edo State, a massive 10,590 kg of cannabis was destroyed in Illushi forest, with two suspects, Benson Upuoni, 65, and Sunday Nwaeboyi, 35, apprehended at the scene.
Other significant arrests included Andrew Joseph Anoriode, caught with 3 kg of methamphetamine and 1.90 kg of cannabis on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, and Agbeiboh Oscar, a suspected methamphetamine cook, arrested with 265 grams of meth and precursor chemicals in Lagos.
NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers for their operational successes, praising the balanced approach of the agency’s efforts in reducing both the supply and demand for illicit drugs.
He highlighted the agency’s ongoing War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities across Nigerian schools, religious centres, and communities, with recent outreach programmes held in states including Oyo, Kano, Cross River, Ebonyi, and Kwara.
These efforts, he noted, were a crucial part of the NDLEA’s commitment to eradicating the drug menace in Nigeria, ensuring both the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of communities from the scourge of drug abuse.
