NDLEA Busts Europe-Bound Cocaine Couriers, Seizes AK-47 Ammunition in Nationwide Raids

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested two Europe-bound Nigerians at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after they allegedly attempted to smuggle cocaine to France by concealing the illicit drug in their bodies.

The arrests came amid a wave of nationwide operations that also led to the interception of 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition, the seizure of large quantities of illicit drugs and the destruction of a cannabis plantation in Edo State.

The suspects, Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were arrested during the clearance of an Air France flight to Paris.

According to the NDLEA, the two men, who reside in Europe and had returned to Nigeria for a holiday, excreted a combined 200 wraps of cocaine weighing about 3.46 kilogrammes after their arrest.

The Abuja airport operation was one of several carried out by the anti-narcotics agency across the country.

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two commercial buses and recovered nearly one tonne of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis.

Operatives in Oyo State also arrested two suspects allegedly attempting to load 554 kilogrammes of cannabis into a truck, while the agency continued efforts to track down another suspected drug dealer who escaped during an earlier operation.

In Kano, operatives recovered hundreds of thousands of tablets of controlled drugs, while further operations in Ondo and Edo states led to significant cannabis seizures.

More than 4,000 kilogrammes of cannabis crop were destroyed at a plantation in Edo State, the agency said.

Meanwhile, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Abuja–Kaduna Expressway arrested a suspect, Aisha Isah, with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition.

In Kaduna State, a separate operation led to the arrest of a 68-year-old man allegedly found with thousands of ampoules and tablets of controlled medicines. Further drug seizures were also recorded in Sokoto State.

The agency said it was sustaining its War Against Drug Abuse campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, workplaces, places of worship and communities.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), said the latest operations should send a strong message to drug traffickers that there is no safe haven for those involved in the illicit drug trade.

He warned that Nigerians living abroad should not assume that their residence outside the country would shield them from arrest and prosecution.