NDLEA Nabs Iran-Bound Passenger In Port Harcourt With 53 Cocaine Wraps, Busts Drug Syndicates Across Nigeria

NDLEA Nabs Iran-Bound Passenger In Port Harcourt With 53 Cocaine Wraps, Busts Drug Syndicates Across Nigeria

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 44-year-old man, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka, at the Port Harcourt International Airport for attempting to smuggle cocaine to Iran by ingesting 53 wraps of the illicit substance.

Chukwuebuka was intercepted on Saturday, June 7, while boarding Qatar Airways flight QR1434 en route to Tehran, Iran, via Doha. Following a body scan that revealed suspicious contents, he was placed under excretion watch and eventually expelled all 53 wraps in six excretions, with a total weight of 1.172 kilograms.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, revealed in a statement that the suspect confessed to being involved in the drug trade for the past two years, operating between the West African sub-region and Iran.

This arrest came barely two weeks after NDLEA operatives at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport apprehended 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, who had ingested 65 pellets of cocaine while also attempting to travel to Iran.

In another clampdown, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Aviation Security, arrested Edobor Ambrose Ali, a passenger bound for Italy via Air France, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Saturday, June 14. A luggage scan uncovered 14,410 tramadol pills stuffed inside winter jackets. Ali confessed that he was recruited in Italy and sent to Nigeria to deliver the drugs to Milan for €2,000.

At Port Harcourt Ports, Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA officers intercepted a major shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup, worth over ₦1.1 billion. The opioids were cleverly hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares. Three suspects—Friday Achibong Joseph (47), Abraham Anthony Willy (21) and Utibe David Okon (24)—were arrested.

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Elsewhere in Cross River State, the agency uncovered a warehouse in Obereakai, Odukpani Local Government Area, containing 2,687kg of skunk, a high-grade variant of cannabis.

On the Bauchi-Jos highway, two suspects, Iriemi Imonikhe (49) and Sa’idu Ladan (30), were arrested after officers discovered 195 blocks of skunk, weighing 287kg, hidden in a Toyota Camry.

In Lagos, the NDLEA Marine Command seized 14 large sacks of skunk weighing 560kg from a wooden boat at Oniru beach. On June 12, two businessmen, Ishaku Abdullahi (30) and Buba Usman (32), were also arrested at the domestic terminal of the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport in Maiduguri with ecstasy pills and skunk labeled as “Lychee” and “Porro Legal.”

Meanwhile, the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign continues to gather momentum. Recent sensitization programs were held at 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.

NDLEA’s ongoing crackdown reinforces its commitment to curbing the rising tide of drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria.