NDLEA Nabs 62-Year-Old Businessman With 95 Cocaine Pellets at Kano Airport, Records Multiple Drug Seizures Nationwide
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 62-year-old Lagos-based businessman, Nwabueze Nicholas Izueke, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, while attempting to travel to China with cocaine concealed in his stomach.
Izueke was apprehended last Saturday during the clearance of passengers bound for China via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940. According to a statement issued by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, a body scan confirmed the suspect had ingested illicit drugs, after which he was placed under excretion observation.
Babafemi disclosed that Izueke expelled a total of 95 jumbo-sized pellets of cocaine in seven separate excretions, with a combined weight of 1.589 kilograms. The suspect reportedly claimed he deals in clothing and auto spare parts in Lagos but resorted to drug trafficking in an attempt to raise funds to complete a house project in his hometown, Iwollo, Enugu State.
In related operations, NDLEA operatives in Zuba, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), arrested Ebube Okeke, identified as the owner of a parcel containing 173 grams of methamphetamine. A follow-up operation in Kaduna on February 7 led to the arrest of Evans Ugwu, Mohammed Eze Arinze and Friday Michael, who were attempting to collect another consignment of 28 grams of meth.
Babafemi further revealed that on February 6, NDLEA officers at the Dan-anacha patrol point in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State intercepted a 32-year-old suspect, Yusuf Abubakar, transporting packs of Hollandia yoghurt from Lagos to Mubi, Adamawa State. A search of the consignment uncovered methamphetamine weighing 1.8 kilograms concealed inside some of the yoghurt packs.
In Ibadan, Oyo State, a suspected drug kingpin, Jimoh Nurudeen, 40, was arrested at Badeku alongside his accomplice, Ogundipe Yusuf, 27. The duo allegedly operated a facility for the production of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis. Items recovered from them included eight litres of precursor chemicals, 14 grams of skunk, production equipment, ₦7,408,400 in cash, and two vehicles — a Mercedes-Benz SUV and a Toyota Highlander.
Commending the series of successful operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), praised the agency’s officers and urged them to sustain their momentum in the ongoing fight against illicit drug trafficking across the country.
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