A Vietnam-bound businessman excretes cocaine as NDLEA discovers drugs concealed in noodles at Lagos airport. Get the full story on this drug bust.
Paul Mbadugha, a businessman who was intending to travel to Vietnam, has been apprehended by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja for reportedly swallowing cocaine.
On Monday, August 12th of the year 2024, a person aged 54 was apprehended while trying to board a Qatar Airways plane set for Hanoi in Vietnam by way of Doha.
Over a span of four days, Mbadugha was monitored and subsequently removed by NDLEA after excreting 88 pieces of cocaine pellets that amounted to a total weight of 1.710 kilograms.
On Sunday, Femi Babafemi, the Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja stated that Mbadugha admitted to receiving drug-filled pellets from a friend residing in Isolo area situated in Lagos. The supposed businessman based out of Lagos professed to being given $2,000 for transporting the restricted substance overseas towards Vietnam.
An 800-gram package of highly potent cannabis known as “Loud” was uncovered by NDLEA officers at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) hidden among a noodle shipment bound for Congo, according to Babafemi.
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Nnamani Sunday Sunny, a trader of GSM handsets, was arrested at the Alaba International Market in Lagos as a result of a subsequent operation.
In a recent update, NDLEA personnel at Lagos airport seized a significant quantity of “Loud” that was imported from Canada. The material weighed 65.80 kilograms and was found in four out of six suitcases carried by Desalu Taophic Temitope – the suspect who had brought it in with him. He was taken into custody during an inter-agency inspection upon arriving via Air France flight; he reported being promised $10k to deliver the contraband alongside his accomplice (who is unaccounted for as yet).
Furthermore, among the notable confiscations made by NDLEA that Babafemi divulged is a collection of 892,400 bottles containing codeine-based syrup. The value of these items amounted to more than N6.2 billion and were retrieved from five containers situated at Onne’s Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Rivers State during August 14th-15th through a collaborative inspection involving Nigeria Customs and other port personnel.
On August 14, 2024, a collaborative effort between NDLEA agents, Nigerian Army troops and community youths was carried out within Ise forest reserve in Ekiti State resulting in the eradication of over twenty-one thousand kilograms of cannabis sativa grown on twenty hectares of farmland.
On August 15, 2024, along the Onitsha-Enugu road in a northern region, NDLEA officers halted a Sienna bus and discovered approximately 200.2 kilograms of cannabis which resulted in the arrest of its driver Okoro Emmanuel who is aged 41. Concurrently on that day while another operation was ongoing in Kano city two men namely Joseph Apeh alongside Diamond Nnabuike were seized upon their possession of nearly145,400 tramadol pills leading to their subsequent arrest by authorities.
Among the apprehended individuals were Fidelis Egede, a septuagenarian, and his associates in Ogun State where they stumbled upon a six-hectare cannabis farm. In another occurrence within Abuja jurisdiction; NDLEA officials seized 30,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection from a vehicle along Kwali-Gwagwalada expressway.
The Chairman and CEO of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), expressed his appreciation to the agency’s officers for their unwavering dedication during the previous week. He applauded all divisions involved in executing raids nationwide and encouraged them to persist with energy when it comes to anti-narcotic advocacy and enforcement operations going forward.
