NDLEA says newlywed arrested with 72 cocaine wraps at Enugu airport

Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has arrested a 25-year-old businessman at Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu for allegedly attempting to traffic 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal. The NDLEA said in a statement on Sunday that the suspect was intercepted in the departure hall on Thursday, September 25, while preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa. The agency said he had ingested the cocaine and later excreted all 72 wraps while under observation.

According to the agency, the suspect told investigators that he had previously operated a car-decoration business at Lagos’s Trade Fair Complex before moving to Portugal in May 2023. He had recently returned to Nigeria and married on September 13, the NDLEA said, adding that he claimed the alleged trafficking was intended to help cover wedding expenses. In a separate operation at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, officers seized 2.55 million pills of Tramaking and Royal Tapentadol.

The agency said the consignments weighed 1,640.55 kilogrammes and had arrived from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines. The NDLEA also reported the arrest of two people in Bauchi with 262.5 kilogrammes of cannabis allegedly hidden in a truck, and the destruction of two cannabis farms in Edo with an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23 kilogrammes. Other reported seizures included cannabis, controlled medicines and tramadol in Lagos; 305.6 kilogrammes of cannabis allegedly being moved from Ghana through Oyo; and 420 cartons of nitrous oxide recovered near the Seme border.

The agency said its commands also continued drug-awareness activities in schools, workplaces, worship centres and communities. NDLEA chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the personnel involved and urged them to maintain the agency’s approach to enforcement and prevention.