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Ibeanusi Nosike, a businessman from Onitsha, Anambra State, has expelled 68 doses of cocaine after 12 days of observation following his arrest at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
According to a statement by the spokesperson of the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, Ibeanusi, 36, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, August 8, 2024, at the old domestic terminal of Lagos Airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja, where he was supposed to board a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at about 10am the same day.
He said the suspect, who was placed under surveillance by the NDLEA following intelligence, had arrived in Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State, the previous day, August 7, and stayed at a hotel where he ingested 68 doses of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6.30am flight the following morning.
However, he was intercepted by NDLEA agents who transferred him for observation, where he spent 12 days expelling cocaine pellets weighing 1,282 kilograms.
Ibeanusi Nosike has become the second person to be arrested while heading to Vietnam with drugs in the space of a few days, after another Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Mbadugha, 54, was arrested by NDLEA officers at Abuja Airport on Monday, August 12, 2024, while clearing Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha, after testing positive for ingesting cocaine.
After four days of observation, Mbadugha had ingested a total of 88 packages of the illicit drug, with a gross weight of 1,710 kilograms.
Babafemi said another businessman from Onitsha, Aligbo Chukwudi, was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.2 kilograms of cannabis hidden in a package bound for Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
He said that operatives of the NDLEA MMIA Strategic Command intercepted the consignment at the export depot at the Lagos Airport, while investigations revealed that the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha; after a series of check operations, Aligbo was finally arrested in Onitsha on Saturday, August 17.
The spokesperson further disclosed that officers of a special operations unit of the NDLEA arrested five cross-border drug traffickers at the Seme border while they were on their way back from Ghana to Lagos.
He said the syndicate leader, Olaribigbe Feyisara, 42, had been targeted by the NDLEA before he was tracked down and arrested last Wednesday along with other members of his gang: Abogun Ladidi; Osibeluwo Tolulope; Akanni Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.
Babafemi said that upon their arrest at the Seme border, a total of 14 packets of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 6.97 kilograms, were recovered from hidden parts of their bodies.
He said similarly, NDLEA officers at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos last Friday intercepted two containers originating from Mundra Port in India, saying no fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine syrup containing 319,200 bottles of the opioid worth over N2.2 billion at market value were recovered from the containers during a joint inspection with other stakeholders at the port.
He said two women were arrested by the operatives in Edo State for selling illicit drugs online, adding that while Martha Owotorofa, 26, was arrested at Kada Plaza, Benin City, with large quantities of Canadian Loud, Odion Uzordinma, 21, was arrested at Ugbowo area of the city with 30 cups of biscuits and 17 slices of cake, all laced with illicit substances.
He said a raid in Oghada village, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday led to the arrest of Saturday Edobor, 50, with 288.8 kilograms of cannabis.
In Lagos, a suspect, Godwill Davidson, was arrested last Wednesday with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup; 5,200 Co-Codamol pills; and 11,880 Rohypnol tablets in Mushin area of the state, while another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23, was arrested by operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway, Kogi State, on the same day with 42,000 tramadol pills from Asaba, Delta State, en route to Potiskum, Yobe State.
Babafemi said two suspects: Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were arrested last Tuesday at Pariz Lounge, Adeoyo area of Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, following intelligence inputs, and recovered R
including 267.5 litres of skuchies, a mixture of blackcurrants and assorted illicit drugs, and 18 grams of Canadian Loud.
He revealed that last week the agency’s commands and formations across the country continued their awareness-raising activities against drug abuse (WADA), including in schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities.
Meanwhile, while commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Units, MMIA, Tincan, Lagos and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd.) urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the agency’s drug control efforts.
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