By Esther Yakubu
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two Europe-based Nigerian businessmen after they allegedly ingested 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes in an attempt to smuggle the drugs to Paris, France.
The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were arrested on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during the outward clearance of an Air France flight AF 832 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.
The agency disclosed that the two men had travelled to Nigeria for holidays but were intercepted while attempting to return to France with the illicit substances concealed in their stomachs.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, both suspects subsequently excreted a total of 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.460 kilogrammes.
Odife, who reportedly resides in France and works in a factory, arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday. He was arrested upon attempting to return to France after a body scan confirmed the presence of foreign objects in his stomach.
During interrogation, he admitted to ingesting 110 pellets of cocaine. He subsequently excreted all the wraps under observation, with the recovered substance weighing 1.901 kilogrammes.
His co-traveller, Blackborn, was also arrested after a body scan confirmed that he had ingested drugs. He confessed to swallowing 90 pellets of cocaine, which he later excreted under observation.
The recovered wraps weighed 1.559 kilogrammes.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two vehicles conveying a combined 976 kilogrammes of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, in separate operations on Sunday, October 25.
The first operation along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, led to the seizure of 537 kilogrammes of the substance from a white Volkswagen LT 28 bus, while another 439 kilogrammes were recovered from a brown J5 bus intercepted along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway.
In Oyo State, two suspects, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on Thursday, October 29, while loading 554 kilogrammes of skunk into a Volvo truck at Idere Road, Igboora.
The operation was a follow-up to an earlier raid targeting a notorious drug dealer identified as ‘Omo Oba’, who escaped arrest on October 25 when operatives seized 309.5 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis linked to him.
In Kano State, NDLEA operatives recovered 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilogrammes during a raid at Tsamiya area of Gezawa on October 26.
Two days later, operatives arrested Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, at Dorayi area with 19,250 pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 13.6 kilogrammes.
Meanwhile, NDLEA officers patrolling the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway arrested a woman, Aisha Isah, at a toll gate with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition.
Another suspect, 68-year-old Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 tablets of diazepam and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.
A separate raid at Tashan Banke area of Kano also led to the arrest of seven suspects, including Faisal Adamu, and the recovery of 178.85 kilogrammes of cannabis, alongside quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin.
In Ondo State, four suspects, including Bassey Okon, 24, Abraham Edet, 20, and Oto Udo, 24, were arrested during a raid on cannabis farms in Ijare Forest on October 25.
The operation, conducted following credible intelligence, resulted in the recovery of 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilogrammes.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, destroyed a cannabis plantation measuring 1.646 hectares at Eko Camp, Ilushi, in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State.
The operation, conducted on October 28, was estimated to have destroyed cannabis with a potential yield of 4,115.53 kilogrammes.
Meanwhile, a 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested at the camp with 301 kilogrammes of processed cannabis, while an additional 176 kilogrammes were recovered during the raid.
In Sokoto State, operatives of the NDLEA Zone 7 Command arrested a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, with 236.6 kilogrammes of skunk on Saturday, October 31.
Beyond its enforcement operations, the agency also sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities across the country.
The campaign featured enlightenment lectures at Obawole Grammar School II, Ojodu, Lagos; Nsukka High School, Enugu State; Government Technical College, Dorayi Babba Rijiyar Zaki, Kano State; and Ajagbe Comprehensive High School, Iperu, Ogun State, among others.
Commenting on the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended officers and men of the agency’s commands in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo and Edo states.
Marwa described the arrest of the two cocaine couriers at Abuja airport as a fresh warning to Nigerians who believe that living abroad could provide cover for international drug trafficking.
He said NDLEA operatives at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant, warning that there was no hiding place for anyone willing to risk their lives and freedom by ingesting illicit substances for financial rewards.
The NDLEA boss also charged officers and men of the agency to sustain the current operational tempo against drug cartels while intensifying drug demand reduction initiatives, particularly WADA sensitisation programmes across the country.
