WIDOW, FASHION DESIGNER ARRESTED FOR TRAFFICKING COCAINE USING FAKE PREGNANCY

A 50-year-old widow and fashion designer, Mrs. Ifeoma Henrietta Ezewuike, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for attempting to traffic 1.3 kilograms of cocaine using a fake pregnancy to evade scrutiny and detection. Ezewuike, a mother of one and proprietress of Golden Star Creation, a fashion outfit along Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, was apprehended at a bus terminal in Jibowu, Yaba, on Friday, August 22, 2025.

According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Ezewuike was caught while attempting to move the illicit drug consignment to customers in Abuja. A follow-up search of her residence in Ago Palace led to the recovery of 200 grams of cutting agent used in producing a strain of cocaine. “In her statement, Ezewuike claimed she inherited the criminal trade from her late husband, who died two years ago, even though she has been in the fashion business for 20 years,” Babafemi disclosed.

The NDLEA also intercepted 90 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 48.6kg, at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday, August 19. The consignment, imported from the United States and concealed in three cartons of kitchen sinks, was seized.

In Adamawa, NDLEA operatives raided the residence of a notorious drug dealer, Idris Garba, on Friday, August 22. Garba escaped by scaling a fence, but his associate, 55-year-old Boniface Nnaji, was caught in the act at Rumde Baru, Yola South. Seized from the premises were a black Toyota Thundra jeep and a Toyota Yaris car loaded with 354,480 pills of tramadol.

Similar arrests were recorded across Kano, Kwara, Ekiti, Taraba, Edo, Delta, and Ondo States. The NDLEA has intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization campaigns, conducting enlightenment programs in schools, religious centers, workplaces, and communities.

NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the agency’s officers for their diligence and urged them to sustain the balanced approach in drug control through both enforcement and sensitization.