National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians based in Europe for allegedly attempting to smuggle 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes to Paris, France, through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Gatekeepers News reports that the suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, during the outward clearance of an Air France flight, AF 832, to Paris.
NDLEA disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the agency, both suspects had returned to Nigeria for holidays before attempting to travel back to Europe with the illicit substance concealed in their stomachs.
Babafemi said Odife, who reportedly lives in France and works in a factory, arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday.
He was arrested after a body scan conducted by operatives revealed foreign objects in his stomach. During questioning, he admitted to ingesting 110 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.901 kilogrammes, which he subsequently excreted under observation.
His co-traveller, Blackborn, also tested positive for drug ingestion during a body scan and reportedly confessed to swallowing 90 pellets weighing 1.559 kilogrammes.
The agency said both men excreted all 200 wraps, which tested positive for cocaine.
Reacting to the arrests, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), warned Nigerians living abroad against using their overseas residence as cover for international drug trafficking.
Marwa described the interception as “a fresh warning to those who think they can use their residence abroad as cover to traffic drugs across Nigerian borders.”
He added that NDLEA operatives at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant, warning that “there is no hiding place for anyone who chooses to risk their life and liberty by ingesting illicit drugs for a fee.”
In other operations, the agency disclosed that its operatives recovered 976 kilogrammes of cannabis from two commercial buses in Lagos.
The seizures were made along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, and the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway, where 537 kilogrammes and 439 kilogrammes of the substance were recovered respectively.
In Oyo State, two suspects were arrested while allegedly loading 554 kilogrammes of cannabis into a truck at Idere Road, Igboora.
NDLEA also reported several drug seizures and arrests in Kano, Ondo, Edo and Sokoto states, as part of its nationwide operations against drug trafficking.
