NDLEA Apprehends Canada-based Nurse and Businessmen for Drug Trafficking

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two businessmen, Ihejirika Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Victory, for alleged drug trafficking.

Ihejirika, who frequently travels to Thailand under the pretense of importing fish into Nigeria, was apprehended on October 15, 2024, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa. A body scan revealed he had ingested cocaine, which he later expelled in five large, egg-sized wraps weighing 400 grams. Ihejirika, 51, confessed that he was to be paid for delivering the drugs in Thailand, claiming he needed the money to support his fish importation business.

Victory, 26, was arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos after arriving from Brazil. A body scan confirmed he had ingested drugs, and he later expelled a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grams. Victory admitted to swallowing 30 wraps of cocaine in Brazil but excreted 29 in Addis Ababa, where he handed them over to another individual. He was promised ₦2.5 million for the drug trafficking operation.

Additionally, a Nigerian-Canadian nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, was arrested on October 4 during an Air France passenger clearance in Lagos. Authorities found 70 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 35.70 kg in her luggage. She claimed to be visiting her boyfriend, who instructed her to bring the synthetic cannabis.

The NDLEA also intercepted 162,351 bottles of codeine syrup at Apapa seaport, Lagos, during a joint examination with Customs officials on October 15. In Port Harcourt, operatives seized 7.2 million pills of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol worth ₦3.6 billion, as well as 15.6 million pills of chlorphenamine in containers from India. In total, the seized consignments at both ports are valued at ₦7.1 billion.

In Bauchi State, 33-year-old Sunday Ogenyi was arrested along the Bauchi-Jos road with 76,600 tramadol pills hidden in false compartments of his vehicle. In Ondo State, three suspects were arrested with 672 kg of cannabis sativa. Meanwhile, a raid in Edo State resulted in the destruction of over 10,500 kg of cannabis on a 4.2-hectare farm and the arrest of two suspects. Additional drug seizures were made in Lagos and Badagry, where methamphetamine and cannabis were recovered. A suspected methamphetamine producer was also arrested with precursor chemicals in Abule Osun.