The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently announced it apprehended two suspected drug traffickers at the Port Harcourt International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The suspects were found to have ingested a total of 125 wraps of heroin before their arrests.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the details in a statement on Sunday, revealing that one of the suspects, 30-year-old Onyekwonike Elochukwu Sylvanus, was operating under dual identities to avoid detection. Sylvanus, who used a Sierra Leonean passport under the alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday, was intercepted on February 2, 2025, at Port Harcourt airport while arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja.
A body scan confirmed that he had ingested illicit substances, and under observation, he excreted 62 wraps of heroin, weighing 1.348 kilograms, over five sessions. Further investigations revealed that Sylvanus frequently switched between his Nigerian and Sierra Leonean passports while trafficking drugs across Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa. He reportedly confessed to turning to the drug trade in 2017 after his clothing and footwear business failed.
The second suspect, 48-year-old James Chinoso, was arrested at Lagos airport on February 1, 2025, after arriving from Madagascar via Ethiopia on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. A body scan confirmed the presence of illicit drugs in his system, and he later expelled 63 wraps of heroin, totaling 909 grams. Chinoso claimed financial struggles following the collapse of his phone accessories business in Liberia led him to drug trafficking.
In a separate operation on February 6, NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation intercepted a shipment of 2.82 kilograms of Loud, a potent strain of synthetic cannabis, smuggled from the United States and intended for delivery in Lagos. That same day, another logistics company in Lagos was found attempting to send 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection (weighing 225 grams) concealed in cartons to Canada.
In Kano, operatives arrested 23-year-olds Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu on February 3 at Gadar Tamburawa along Zaria Road. The suspects were found with 15,396 tramadol pills hidden inside a gas cylinder. Another operation in Sabon Gari led to the arrest of 35-year-old Chioma Okeke, who was caught with 27 blocks of skunk, amounting to 15 kilograms of cannabis.
Further crackdowns on February 8 saw NDLEA officers intercept 12,800 tramadol 250mg pills along the Kabba-Obajana Highway in Kogi State, leading to the arrest of 33-year-old Salisu Basiru. The same day, at a checkpoint, authorities recovered 65 parcels of Colorado (1.6 kilograms of synthetic cannabis) bound for Jigawa State from a suspect identified as Rufai Hassan.
The NDLEA reaffirmed its commitment to dismantling drug syndicates and intensifying efforts to curb illicit drug trafficking across the country.