National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Vietnam-bound businessman named Paul Okwuy Mbadugha at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja after he tested positive for ingestion of cocaine.
Gatekeepers News reports that NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi revealed this through a statement released on Sunday in Abuja.
The suspect, 54, was arrested at the boarding gate of Abuja airport on Monday, August 12, during outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha.
Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms, after four days under excretion observation.
The suspect in his statement, alleged he is a Lagos-based businessman and was given the cocaine pellets to swallow by a friend in Isolo area of the state for onward delivery in Vietnam for a fee of $2,000.
Also, NDLEA officers at the export shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos intercepted a shipment of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 800 grams concealed in noodles going to Congo.
NDLEA noted that a follow-up operation at Alaba International Market in Ojo area of Lagos led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment.
The sender whose name is Nnamani Sunday Sunny deals in GSM handsets.
In addition, a large consignment of Loud imported from Canada has been intercepted by NDLEA operatives at Lagos airport.
The suspect, Desalu Taophic Temitope, who arrived on board an Air France flight with six boxes was arrested by anti-narcotic officers during a joint examination by security agencies at arrival hall.
A total of 65.80 kilograms of psychoactive substance were recovered from four of the six suitcases.
According to Desalu’s statement; he and an accomplice currently at large were promised $10,000 upon successful delivery of the shipment in Lagos.
The operatives also intercepted no less than 892,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N6, 246,800,000.00 in street value were also intercepted from five containers at Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State.
The operation followed a joint examination of the containers with operatives of Nigeria Customs and other port stakeholders on Wednesday and Thursday, August 14 and 15, 2024.
The bottles of the opioid were packed in 5,337 cartons with a gross weight of 133,860 kilograms and shipped in five containers from India.
