NDLEA Arrests India-Bound Businessman, Recovers N3.6bn Drugs In Lagos

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 48-year-old Lagos businessman, Nwankwo Innocent Onyebuchi, after cocaine was allegedly found hidden in his luggage at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.

The agency said Onyebuchi was stopped at Terminal II while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight to New Delhi, India. A search of his check-in bag allegedly uncovered 1.550kg of cocaine factory-fitted into the side walls and railings of the bag.

According to the NDLEA statement reported on Sunday, the suspect deals in marbles in Lagos and allegedly told investigators he sold his business and other assets to raise N23m for the consignment. The agency said he expected to sell the drugs in India for as much as N100m.

Onyebuchi remains in custody awaiting prosecution, the agency said.

The arrest was announced alongside other Lagos seizures. NDLEA operatives said they raided a warehouse inside a residential compound at Hakeem Dosumu Street, Ago Palace, Okota, where they recovered 3,776 cartons of codeine-based syrup. The cartons contained 377,600 bottles valued at more than N2.6bn.

The agency also reported a raid at Ogundare Street, Ipaja Estate, where it said 324kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, was recovered from the residence of a 55-year-old suspect, Shoremi Kayode.

Other operations were reported in Kwara, Oyo, Delta, Plateau, Kano and Edo states. In Oyo, NDLEA said officers found 52,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 6,000 ampoules of tramadol injection in a Toyota Sienna on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

In Delta, the agency said two suspects were arrested along the Onitsha-Asaba Expressway with 124,100 tramadol pills, 786 bottles of codeine syrup, rohypnol tablets, diazepam tablets and other controlled substances. Another suspect was allegedly caught along the Kwale-Ozoro Expressway with 1,244 cartridges and N8m.

In Kano, NDLEA said six suspects were arrested along the Zaria-Kano Road with opioid pills, cocaine, methamphetamine, codeine syrup and a synthetic cannabis strain known as Loud. The agency also reported the recovery of 171 blocks of skunk at Zawaciki Gida Dubu in Kumbotso Local Government Area.

The Lagos arrest and seizures form part of NDLEA’s latest weekly enforcement update, which placed the value of the major Lagos drug recoveries at about N3.6bn.

Sources: Punch, Vanguard