Abuja: The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a Nigerian businessman based in China and two Angolan nationals after intercepting them at Abuja and Kano airports, where they excreted a combined 236 wraps of cocaine, exposing an international trafficking network.
The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, issued this statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said the suspects were arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano. A businessman was arrested at Abuja airport on Feb. 4, while on board Qatar Airways flight 1432 from Kano to China, en route to Abuja/Doha.
The NDLEA spokesman said that the agency operatives at the Abuja airport, acting on intelligence, demanded that the suspect be deboarded, following which he was taken for a body scan.
Babafemi said that the result confirmed the suspect ingested an illicit drug and consequently was placed under observation during which he excreted a total of 52 pellets of cocaine that weighed 735.95 grammes.
“In his statement, the suspect said he was into business on Lagos Island before relocating to Guangzhou, China in 2024,”he said.
Also, the NDLEA spokesman said that the Angolans were intercepted on Feb 4 at the screening point of the departure hall of Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
This, he said, occurred during the outward clearance of passengers bound for Istanbul, Turkey, via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940. Upon a body scan, they tested positive for ingesting an illicit drug. As a result, they were kept under observation for possible excretion. They excreted 76 wraps weighing 920 grammes in seven excretions. Another 108 pellets weighed 1.33 kilogrammes in five excretions.
“During interview, the su“During the interview, the suspects who hail from Hoji Ya Henda in Luanda, the capital of Angola, claimed they were recruited by a Luanda-based automobile spare parts dealer who promised to pay them $3000 each upon successful delivery of the consignments in Turkey.” He said that NDLEA operatives also busted an attempt by a convicted drug kingpin to export 1.10 kilogrammes of cocaine.
He said that the drugs were concealed in processed cassava granules, popularly known as Garri, and were shipped to London, United Kingdom, on a Virgin Atlantic flight at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. He was serving a five-year jail term at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre, Lagos, after NDLEA arrested him in 2025 in connection with a case of unlawful conspiracy to export 17.90kg of cocaine.
The authorities successfully prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced the suspect in charge number FHC/L/925C/2025 before the Federal High Court in Lagos. “Not ready to give up on his criminal enterprise, the convict, who is the Chief Executive Officer of a Logistics company, initiated the latest scheme from behind the prison walls to export 1.10kg of cocaine, using his company was discovered on Thursday, Feb. 12 when NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted a consignment of compressed block of cocaine, hidden in a sack of Garri which was further packed inside a carton.
“A staff member of the Logistics company, who presented the consignment for export, was promptly arrested. That the suspect initiated the trafficking scheme from prison and directed his staff to pick the consignment at a location in Oshodi,” Babafemi said.
