Two businessmen arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, have excreted 193 pellets of cocaine after three days in observatory custody.
In a statement, the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the duo, Onoh Ebere, 49, and Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji, 47, had been arrested for cocaine ingestion after being intercepted at the Abuja airport on Wednesday, May 10 upon arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951.
Although the two suspects “have businesses they manage in Nigeria, their main source of income has been drug trafficking”, Mr Babafemi explained.
They had travelled to Uganda from which they crossed into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they picked the consignments before returning to Abuja with Lagos as their final destination.
“After days in excretion room, Ebere Onoh excreted a total of 100 pellets weighing 2.137kg, while Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji expelled 93 pellets hidden in his stomach with a gross weight of 1.986kg,” he added.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives have frustrated the smuggling into Lagos of a consignment of 24kg cannabis indica concealed in imported used cars from Canada.
Operatives intercepted the consignment on Thursday, May 11, during a joint 100% examination of a container marked MSMU 7412069 at the Prime Connection Bonded terminal, off Oshodi-Apapa expressway.
The NDLEA operatives, working in collaboration with men of the Customs Service, arrested two clearing agents linked with the container, Chief GO Njokwu and Christopher Obialor.
Similarly, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms, have, during outward clearance of goods, intercepted a Saudi Arabia-bound consignment of 398grams of cocaine hidden in native dresses.
A female suspect, Fatima Hassan, was arrested on Friday May 12 at Agege, Lagos, with 33.5kg of cannabis sativa, while 44kg of the same substance was recovered same day from the Lagos Island warehouse of a fleeing drug dealer.
A day earlier, another suspect, Peter Joseph, was arrested along Lagos-Ibadan expressway with 10,000 pills of Tramadol 250mg and 1,500 tablets of Rohypnol, concealed inside his Toyota Sienna vehicle, with registration number NRK 961XB.
Reporting by Nosa Aituamen; Editing by Daniel Adejo and Tony Okerafor