LAGOS, Nigeria – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians living in Europe after they allegedly swallowed 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46kg while attempting to travel from Abuja to Paris, France.
The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were arrested on Wednesday, October 28, during the outward clearance of an Air France flight, AF 832, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying body scans confirmed that both men had ingested illicit substances.
Babafemi said Odife, who works in a factory in France, had returned to Nigeria for a holiday on October 21 before attempting to travel back. According to him, Odife admitted swallowing 110 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.901kg, which he later excreted under observation.
His co-traveller, Blackborn, also tested positive during a body scan and admitted ingesting 90 wraps weighing 1.559kg.
In Lagos, operatives recovered 976kg of cannabis from two commercial buses, while 554kg of the substance was seized in Oyo State. In Kano, officers recovered thousands of tablets of illicit drugs. Other operations led to the arrest of a woman, Aisha Isah, with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
A 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was also arrested along the Zaria-Kano Expressway with thousands of controlled drug tablets and injectable substances. The NDLEA Chairman, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), warned Nigerians living abroad against using their foreign residency as a cover for drug trafficking.
“The interception of the two cocaine couriers at Abuja airport is a fresh warning to those who think they can use their residence abroad as cover to traffic drugs across Nigerian borders,” Marwa said.
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