An attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, a 200-level student of nursing at the Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India, to swallow 76 wraps of cocaine, hours before her return flight to the South Asian country through the Kano International Airport, has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
A statement by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said Esther was scheduled to return to Delhi, India from Kano International Airport on Qatar Airways flight 1432 on 17th January 2025 but was arrested in her room at 11:30 pm on 16th January at Royal Park Hotel, Sabon Garin Kano, while awaiting the cocaine consignment she was to ingest before her flight the following morning.
Her lid was blown open when NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State on 16th January intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in a commuter bus coming from Lagos en route to Kano. Inside his black polythene bag was an audio speaker, which was used to conceal 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.340 kilograms, which he was going to deliver to Esther in Kano. A swift follow-up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the female nursing university student later the same day.
In her statement, Esther claimed the drug cartel she was working for recruited her in India and paid for her trip to Nigeria to enjoy her Christmas and New Year holidays.
To avoid her parents knowing she was in Nigeria, Esther did not travel to her home state, Imo, but was lodged for two weeks in a hotel in Enugu, from where she was flown to Abuja and then Kano, where she was lodged at Royal Park Hotel to swallow the 76 pellets of cocaine sent to her from Lagos before taking her Qatar Airways flight to India on Friday morning.
She said she was promised over $5,000 upon successful delivery of the illicit consignment in India.
In other operations along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway, Babafemi said NDLEA officers arrested four suspects: Abdullahi Umar, Tijjani Samaila, Lucky Obotte, and Abubakar Haruna, who were heading to Maiduguri, Borno State, Kano, and Abuja in commuter vehicles with over 38,000 pills of tramadol 225mg, 250mg, and 100mg concealed in audio speakers and clothes.
In Lagos, operatives of a special operations unit of the Agency on 14th January raided the hideout of a 59-year-old Nwokedi Emeka Jonas in the Ojodu-Berger area of the state, where they recovered 10 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.9kg, as well as different paper bags he uses in dispensing the psychoactive substance in retail quantities. Printed on them include street names and codes such as ‘Dead man’; ‘Gelato top shelf smoke’; ‘Topshelf’; and ‘Gelato cake’.
In other operations in Lagos, operatives of the state Command of the Agency on 15th January raided a house in Igando New Town area of Alimosho, where they arrested three suspects: Isaac Vincent, Ebube Ikechi, and Christopher Usifoh, from whom 1,610kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, and 6kg pills of tramadol were recovered. Also recovered from the house were a delivery van and three other vehicles used for distributing the illicit drugs.
Two suspects, Olashile Okoya and Mohammed Ibrahim, were arrested on Saturday when NDLEA officers raided their home at 5A Addison Palmer, Cadogan Estate, Castle Rock Avenue, Osapa, Lekki Lagos, where 28 kilograms of Canadian Loud were recovered following credible intelligence.
Not less than 67kg skunk was seized from Saheed Sulaiman on 16th January when NDLEA operatives raided his Edumare Street, Lagos Island hideout, while various quantities of assorted illicit substances were recovered from Adamu Abdullahi on 14th January when Jerry Irabi Estate, Lekki hideout was raided by NDLEA officers.
They include 3.7 litres of codeine syrup; 10,000 pills of tramadol; 1,670 tablets of rohypnol; 6.5kg cannabis; 3,100 tablets of diazepam; 10,090 tablets of Molly; 5,500 tabs of Exol-5; 1.2kg crisps of wrapped methamphetamine and a monetary exhibit of N623,650.00.
In Kano, two suspects, Usama Adamu and Isah Ibrahim, were on 17th January arrested at Dawanau, Dawakin Tofa LGA, where a total of 7.6kg skunk, 78 tubes of rubber solution, and 356 bottles of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance, were recovered from them.
In another raid in Kano, Usman Isa was nabbed along Zaria Road with 114 blocks of skunk weighing 49.8kg, and three suspects, Lawali Isiaka, Umoru Isiaka, and Mohammed Kabiru, were on 15th January arrested by NDLEA operatives with 390 tablets of Molly and 65.5kg of cannabis at Bode Saadu in Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State, while Samuel Ogbu, 24, was nabbed with 25,000 pills of tramadol by operatives along Wukari-Zaki Ibiam Road, Wukari LGA, Taraba State.
In a series of raids in Abuja, the statement said, a suspect, Rufa’i Hashimu, was arrested at Gwarimpa village area of the FCT with 118 bottles of codeine-based syrup, while 13 others were nabbed in other locations such as Area 1 IDP camp, Gishiri, Zuba, Dei-Dei, AYA, Lagos Street, Garki, Karu, and Lugbe.
Different quantities of tramadol, diazepam, and methamphetamine were recovered from them.
With the same vigour, commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week.
While commending the officers and men of the various commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), urged them and their compatriots across the country not to rest on their oars as they intensify their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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