The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its efforts against drug trafficking, leading to significant arrests and seizures across Nigeria. In a notable incident at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), NDLEA operatives apprehended 44-year-old businessman Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka on Saturday, June 7. Chukwuebuka was attempting to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran, via Doha, when a body scan revealed he had ingested illicit drugs. He was subsequently placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine, weighing a total of 1.172 kilogrammes. The suspect admitted to engaging in the criminal trade for two years, operating between the West African sub-region and Iran.

This arrest at Port Harcourt follows a similar apprehension just two weeks prior at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, where 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Okigbo was caught en route to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach.

In a separate operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), intercepted Italy-bound passenger Edobor Ali on an Air France flight on Saturday, June 14. During baggage scanning at the tarmac, drug consignments were discovered hidden in his luggage. A thorough search revealed 14,410 pills of tramadol, specifically 225mg and 200mg, concealed within winter jackets. Ali confessed to being recruited in Italy, receiving an all-expense-paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy, for a fee of 2,000 Euros.

Major seizures also occurred at various ports and land locations. At the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA operatives, working jointly with the Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted a watch-listed container on Friday, June 13. This yielded a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup, with an estimated street value exceeding N1.1 billion. The opioid consignments were cunningly hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares. Three suspects, Friday Achibong (47), Abraham Anthony (21), and Utibe Okon (24), were arrested in connection with this seizure.

Further operations targeted cannabis and ecstasy. In Cross River State, NDLEA operatives raided a warehouse in Obereakai, Odukpani Local Government Area, on Thursday, June 12, recovering a significant 2,687 kilogrammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis. On the same day in Bauchi State, officers acting on credible intelligence arrested Iriemi Imonikhe (49) and Sa’idu Ladan (30) along the Bauchi-Jos road. Their Toyota Camry car, marked AKL 201 GG, was found to contain 195 blocks of skunk, weighing 287 kilogrammes.

The NDLEA’s Marine Command also contributed to the seizures, recovering 14 jumbo sacks of skunk, weighing 560 kilogrammes, from a wooden boat at Oniru beach in Lagos on Thursday, June 12. Concurrently, at the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Maiduguri, two businessmen, Ishaku Abdullahi (30) and Buba Usman (32), were arrested at the arrival hall of the domestic wing. They were found with various quantities of ecstasy pills and skunk, packaged in fanciful wraps labeled as ‘Lychee’ and ‘Porro Legal’.

Beyond enforcement, the NDLEA continued its “War Against Drug Abuse” (WADA) social advocacy activities across the country, conducting sensitisation lectures at schools such as Command Secondary School in Orba, Enugu; Divine Gift International School, Abakaliki; Baptist Primary School, Ago-Are, Oyo State; and St. Vincent Secondary School, Oti-Oron, Akwa Ibom State. The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of the MMIA, PHIA, MBIAM, PHPC, Marine, Cross River, and Bauchi commands for their successful arrests and seizures, while also praising their counterparts nationwide for balancing drug supply reduction and demand reduction efforts.