A weekly report by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has revealed how two businessmen from southeastern Nigeria excreted a total of 156 wraps of cocaine while in custody.
The agency reported that the first suspect, Ibeanusi Nosike, a 36-year-old businessman based in Onitsha, excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after spending 12 days under observation.
On August 7, Nosike traveled from Onitsha to Lagos, where he checked into a hotel. Upon his arrival, he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30 am flight the following morning.
When Nosike arrived at the local terminal of Lagos International Airport, he was intercepted by narcotics officers acting on credible intelligence. He had attempted to board the earliest flight to Abuja, where he was scheduled to connect to a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at 10 am that same day.
The agency stated, “He was subsequently intercepted by NDLEA operatives, who placed him under excretion observation for the next 12 days, during which he expelled the cocaine pellets, weighing 1.282 kilograms.”
Similarly, another businessman, 54-year-old Paul Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on August 12. Mbadugha was apprehended during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha, after testing positive for cocaine ingestion.
After four days of observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the drug, weighing 1.710 kilograms, according to the agency.
In another case, another Onitsha-based businessman, Aligbo Jacob, was arrested by NDLEA operatives after they seized a consignment of 1.20 kilograms of cannabis concealed in a package destined for Dubai, UAE.
Operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command intercepted the shipment at the Lagos airport’s export shed, and investigations revealed that the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha.
After a series of follow-up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on August 17.
