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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Two Nigerians resident in France, who flew home on holiday, have been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, with 200 wraps of cocaine in their stomachs as they tried to return to Paris.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intercepted the suspects, Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during outward clearance for Air France flight AF 832.
Both were later made to excrete the drugs, which tested positive for cocaine and weighed 3.460 kilograms in total.
Odife, who claims to work in a factory in France, arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday.
A body scan at the airport showed foreign objects in his stomach, and he admitted swallowing 110 pellets.
He excreted all of them under observation, weighing 1.901 kilograms.
Blackborn was picked up at the departure hall on the same flight. His scan also returned positive, and he confessed to swallowing 90 pellets. All 90 wraps, weighing 1.559 kilograms, were recovered.
The NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), said the arrests were a warning to anyone who thinks living abroad offers cover for trafficking drugs across Nigeria’s borders.
He said officers at all entry and exit points remain alert and that there is “no hiding place” for anyone who ingests drugs for a fee.
In a week of nationwide raids, the agency also recovered large quantities of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, in the South-West.
On October 25, operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a Volkswagen LT 28 bus along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, with 537 kilograms. The same day, a J5 bus on the Gbagada–Oshodi expressway yielded 439 kilograms.
On October 29, officers arrested Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, at Idere road, Igboora, while they were loading 554 kilograms into a Volvo truck. The operation targeted a notorious dealer known as “Omo Oba,” who escaped on October 25 when 309.5 kilograms of “Ghanaian Loud” linked to him was seized.
Other News
On the Abuja–Kaduna expressway, a woman, Aisha Isah, was arrested at the toll gate with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition.
In Kano, a raid on October 26 at Tsamiya, Gezawa, recovered 247,500 tablets of diazepam and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5. Two days later, Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, were arrested at Dorayi with 19,250 tablets of tramadol 225mg.
In Kaduna State, a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine, 100 ampoules of diazepam, 11,000 diazepam tablets and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.
A separate raid at Tashan Banke led to seven arrests, including Faisal Adamu, and the recovery of 178.85 kilograms of cannabis along with diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin.
In Sokoto, a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, was arrested on October 31 with 236.6 kilograms of skunk.
Cannabis plantation destroyed in Edo
In Edo State, NDLEA officers backed by soldiers raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South East LGA, on October 28 and destroyed a 1.646-hectare cannabis plantation with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilograms.
A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested with 301 kilograms of processed cannabis, and another 176 kilograms was recovered.
In Ondo State, four suspects, including Bassey Okon, 24, Abraham Edet, 20, and Oto Udo, 24, were arrested on October 25 at cannabis farms in Ijare forest, with 180 kilograms of processed cannabis recovered.
The agency also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation, with lectures at schools in Lagos, Enugu, Kano and Ogun, among other places.
Marwa commended officers of the NAIA, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo and Edo commands and urged them to sustain the pressure on drug cartels while continuing demand reduction efforts.
The information was contained in a statement by NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, November 1, 2026.
