Taiwo Popoola
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives thwarted an attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma to swallow 76 wraps of cocaine hours before her return flight to the South Asian country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano.
NDLEA identified Uzodinma as a 200-level nursing student at Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India.
According to the agency, Esther was scheduled to return to Delhi, India, from MAKIA Kano on Qatar Airways flight 1432 on Friday, 17th January 2025, but was arrested in her room at 11:30 pm on Thursday, 16th January, at Royal Park Hotel Sabon Garin Kano, while awaiting the cocaine consignment she was to ingest before her flight the following morning.
Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, made this known in a statement issued on Sunday.
Babafemi said that luck ran out for the suspect when NDLEA operatives, on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State on Thursday, 16th January, intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in a commuter bus coming from Lagos en route to Kano.
He disclosed that inside the suspect’s black polythene bag was an audio speaker, which concealed 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.340 kilograms that he was going to deliver to Esther in Kano. A swift follow-up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the female nursing student later that same day.
The NDLEA spokesman stated that Esther, in her statement, claimed the drug cartel she was working for recruited her in India and paid for her trip to Nigeria to enjoy her Christmas and New Year holidays.
According to her, quoting NDLEA’s statement, to avoid her parents knowing she was in Nigeria, she did not travel to her home state, Imo, but was lodged for two weeks in a hotel in Enugu, from where she was flown to Abuja and then Kano, where she was lodged at Royal Park Hotel to swallow the 76 pellets of cocaine sent to her from Lagos before taking her Qatar Airways flight to India on Friday morning.
Babafemi also disclosed that the suspect said she was promised over $5,000 upon successful delivery of the illicit consignment in India.
Announcing other interceptions by the NDLEA, Babafemi said: “In other operations along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway, NDLEA officers arrested four suspects: Abdullahi Umar, Tijjani Samaila, Lucky Obotte, and Abubakar Haruna, who were heading to Maiduguri, Borno State, Kano, and Abuja in commuter vehicles with over 38,000 pills of tramadol 225mg, 250mg, and 100mg concealed in audio speakers and clothes.
“In Lagos, operatives of a special operations unit of the agency, on Tuesday, 14th January, raided the hideout of 59-year-old Nwokedi Emeka Jonas in Ojodu-Berger area of the state, where they recovered 10 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.9kg, as well as different paper bags he used to dispense the psychoactive substance in retail quantities. Printed on them were street names and codes such as ‘Dead Man’, ‘Gelato Top Shelf Smoke’, ‘TopShelf’, and ‘Gelato Cake’.”
He continued: “In other operations in Lagos, operatives of the state command of the agency, on Wednesday, 15th January, raided a house in Igando New Town area of Alimosho, where they arrested three suspects: Isaac Vincent (32), Ebube Ikechi (25), and Christopher Usifoh (43), from whom 1,610kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and 6kg of tramadol pills were recovered. Also recovered from the house were a delivery van and three other vehicles used for distributing the illicit drugs.
“Two suspects, Olashile Okoya and Mohammed Ibrahim, were arrested on Saturday, 18th January, when NDLEA officers raided their home at 5A Addison Palmer, Cadogan Estate, Castle Rock Avenue, Osapa, Lekki, Lagos, where 28 kilograms of Canadian Loud were recovered following credible intelligence.
“Not less than 67kg of skunk was seized from Saheed Sulaiman on Thursday, 16th January, when NDLEA operatives raided his Edumare Street, Lagos Island, hideout, while various quantities of assorted illicit substances were recovered from Adamu Abdullahi on Tuesday, 14th January, when Jerry Irabi Estate, Lekki, hideout was raided by NDLEA officers. These include 3.7 litres of codeine syrup, 10,000 pills of tramadol, 1,670 tablets of Rohypnol, 6.5kg of cannabis, 3,100 tablets of diazepam, 10,090 tablets of Molly, 5,500 tabs of Exol-5, 1.2kg of wrapped methamphetamine, and a monetary exhibit of ₦623,650.00.
“In Kano, two suspects, Usama Adamu (25) and Isah Ibrahim (29), were arrested on Friday, 17th January, at Dawanau, Dawakin Tofa LGA, where a total of 7.6kg of skunk, 78 tubes of rubber solution, and 356 bottles of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance, were recovered from them. In another raid in Kano, Usman Isa (29) was nabbed along Zaria Road with 114 blocks of skunk weighing 49.8kg.
“Three suspects, Lawali Isiaka, Umoru Isiaka, and Mohammed Kabiru, were arrested on Wednesday, 15th January, by NDLEA operatives with 390 tablets of Molly and 65.5kg of cannabis at Bode Saadu in Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State, while Samuel Ogbu (24) was nabbed with 25,000 pills of tramadol by operatives along Wukari-Zaki Ibiam road, Wukari LGA, Taraba State.
“In a series of raids in Abuja, a suspect, Rufa’i Hashimu (27), was arrested at Gwarimpa village area of the FCT with 118 bottles of codeine-based syrup, while 13 others were nabbed in other locations such as Area1 IDP camp, Gishiri, Zuba, Dei-Dei, AYA, Lagos Street Garki, Karu, and Lugbe. Recovered from them were different quantities of tramadol, diazepam, and methamphetamine.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of Lagos, Kogi, SOPU, Kano, Kwara, FCT, and Taraba Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures.
Marwa urged them and their compatriots across the country not to rest on their oars as they intensify their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
