The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, a businessman, at the Port Harcourt International Airport for attempting to smuggle cocaine to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This was issued in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s spokesman.
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According to Babafemi, 44-year old Ezemokwe, was intercepted on Saturday, 7th June, while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 to Tehran via Doha.
He stated that a body scan conducted by NDLEA officers revealed Ezemokwe had ingested illegal substances.
Ezemokwe was later placed under close observation, and he excreted 53 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.172 kilogrammes in six separate evacuations.
During questioning, the suspect admitted to being involved in the transnational drug trade two years ago and claimed to have smuggled drugs between West Africa and Iran several times.
The arrest occurred just two weeks after NDLEA operatives apprehended a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport who was also route to Iran, with 65 pellets of cocaine hidden in his stomach.
In another operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA officers in the early hours of Saturday, 14th June, intercepted an Italy-bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, on an Air France flight.
Acting in collaboration with the Aviation Security unit of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the officers detected suspicious contents during baggage scanning.
A follow-up search led to the discovery of 14,410 Tramadol pills, of both 225mg and 200mg strengths, carefully hidden inside winter jackets.
Edobor, who claimed to be a resident of Italy, confessed he was recruited for an all-expense-paid trip to Nigeria with instructions to courier the drugs to Milan for a payment of €2,000.
That same week, NDLEA operatives at Onne Port, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, intercepted a container carrying 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup with an estimated street value exceeding ₦1.1 billion.
The opioid-laden shipment was cleverly concealed behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares. The seizure was made during a joint examination of a watch-listed container involving operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.