Two Nigerians arrested after swallowing 200 cocaine wraps at Abuja airport
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians living in Europe after they allegedly ingested 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes while attempting to board a flight from Abuja to Paris, France.
The suspects were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF832 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi, both men tested positive for drug ingestion during body scans and subsequently excreted all the cocaine under medical observation.
One of the suspects, who lives and works in a factory in France, had arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday. He reportedly admitted ingesting 110 wraps of cocaine, weighing 1.901 kilogrammes after recovery.
His co-traveller confessed to swallowing 90 wraps, which weighed 1.559 kilogrammes after they were excreted.
The arrests formed part of a series of anti-drug operations conducted by the agency across several states, resulting in the seizure of cannabis, controlled medicines and other illicit substances.
In Lagos, operatives intercepted two commercial buses carrying 976 kilogrammes of cannabis, commonly 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.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives recovered 247,500 tablets of diazepam and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 during a raid in Tsamiya, Gezawa. Two suspects were subsequently arrested in Dorayi with 19,250 tramadol 225mg pills.
The agency also reported the arrest of a woman carrying 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
In another operation, a 68-year-old man was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, with thousands of ampoules and tablets of controlled medicines, including pentazocine and diazepam.
Further operations in Kano, Ondo, Edo and Sokoto resulted in additional arrests and cannabis seizures. In Edo, a cannabis plantation covering 1.646 hectares was destroyed at Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South-East Local Government Area. The agency estimated its potential yield at 4,115.53 kilogrammes.
Reacting to the operations, NDLEA chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa warned Nigerians living abroad against using their foreign residence as a cover for drug trafficking.
He said the interception at Abuja airport demonstrated the agency’s continued vigilance at the country’s entry and exit points, warning that those who ingest illicit drugs for financial rewards risk their lives and freedom.
Marwa commended officers involved in the operations across the affected states and urged them to sustain enforcement efforts alongside drug prevention campaigns under the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse initiative.