France, Hong Kong-Bound Businessmen Excrete Cocaine, Heroin At Abuja Airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two businessmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with cocaine and heroin concealed in their bellies on their way to Hong Kong and France.
While 38-year-old ThankGod Chimamkpa Emenike was arrested at the boarding gate of the Abuja Airport during the outward clearance of passengers on Air France flight 818 to Paris, on Friday, October 20, another passenger, 41-year-old Agbo Chidike Prince was taken into NDLEA custody on Saturday, October 21, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 950 to Hong Kong via Addis Ababa.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who made the disclosure in a statement, yesterday, noted that the suspects were both arrested and detained after their body scan revealed they ingested the illicit drugs.
Babafemi stated that after days in custody and a number of excretions, Emenike excreted 72 wraps of heroin weighing 1.171 kilograms, while Chidike discharged 49 pellets of cocaine with a total weight of 998.53grams.
He disclosed that Chidike, in his statement, claimed he is a businessman dealing in spare parts at the Alaba International market in the Ojo area of Lagos.
The NDLEA spokesman said the suspect added that he was to be paid N3.5 million which he intended to use to import goods from Hong Kong.
Babafemi noted that the operatives of the Lagos Command of the NDLEA intercepted and recovered a vehicle loaded with 209kgs of Loud at the Okun Ajah area of the state on Monday, October 23.
He said the anti-narcotics officers also recovered an abandoned consignment of 401 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 392kgs and 21,000 capsules of tramadol in the Tumfure area of Gombe State last Saturday, October 28.
He added that the NDLEA operatives, in the early hours of yesterday, stormed the Utese forest in the Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State and evacuated a total of 2,931.3 kilograms of cannabis sativa from a warehouse in the forest.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA operatives have also intercepted a Qatar Airways flight passenger going to Oman, Agbo Celestine Tochukwu, with a consignment of 58 parcels of skunk weighing 29.10kgs while undergoing processes to board his flight at the terminal 11 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State.
Tochukwu, in his statement, claimed he relocated to Oman on May 6, 2023, and has been working as hotel attendant in Oman before venturing into drug trafficking.
Babafemi made this known in a statement issued yesterday.
The NDLEA spokesman added that 2,197 kilograms of skunk were recovered in four interdiction operations in parts of Ondo State within four days.
He said 1,165.5kgs were seized in Uso, Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State on Wednesday, October 25, adding that a consignment of 691kgs were recovered from Ukugu forest in Ipele the on Tuesday, October 24.
“A suspect, Ifeanyi Abuguja, 32, was arrested with 87kgs of same substance on Monday, October 23 at Agula Road, Ogbese, Akure North LGA, while 253.5kgs were recovered at Ogbese market in Akure North LGA on Thursday, October 26,” the NDLEA spokesman stated.
He disclosed that two suspects – Ayo Dele, 19, and Olaitan Ahmed, 23 – were arrested with 160 grams of cannabis at a drug joint at the Nalende area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Sunday, October 22.
The NDLEA spokesperson noted that a follow-up operation at their warehouse in the same area led to the recovery of 332kgs of the same substance.
While commending the officers of the anti-drug agency for the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency to maintain the offensive action tempo and strive to surpass previous records while maintaining a balance with their drug demand reduction efforts.