The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has reported multiple drug seizures and arrests across the country, including the interception of a newlywed with 72 wraps of cocaine at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
The 25-year-old businessman was arrested on September 25 at the airport’s departure hall while allegedly attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
The NDLEA said the suspect had ingested the cocaine and was placed under excretion observation, subsequently excreting all 72 wraps of the Class A drug.
The agency said the suspect had previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023. He recently returned to Nigeria and married on September 13.
According to the NDLEA, the suspect told investigators that he became involved in drug trafficking in an attempt to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
In a separate operation at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, operatives seized 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg.
The drugs, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55kg, were recovered from three monitored consignments imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi State, two suspects aged 35 and 45 were arrested along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg. The cannabis was allegedly concealed in a false compartment of a truck.
NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, also destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, Edo State, with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg.
In Lagos, two women aged 36 and 40 were arrested during a raid on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, on September 26, with 3.4kg of skunk recovered.
A 58-year-old man was also arrested at Ebute-Ero motor park the same day, with 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol recovered from him.
In Oyo State, two Togolese nationals aged 35 and 33 were arrested along the Iganna-Ilero road, where NDLEA operatives recovered 305.6kg of skunk from two pick-up vans allegedly transporting cannabis from Ghana into Nigeria.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg. The consignment was allegedly being transported into Lagos in two vehicles.
The NDLEA also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns during the week, with officers holding awareness programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities in Oyo, Edo, Gombe and Kano states.
The Delta Ports Command also carried out a WADA advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatshe III, in Delta State.
NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended personnel involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s approach to drug control.
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