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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
A 48-year-old businessman who sold off his marble trading business to fund a bid at quick riches in the illicit drug trade has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to New Delhi, India.
Nwankwo Innocent Onyebuchi was intercepted at the departure hall of Terminal II with 1.550 kilograms of cocaine concealed within the side walls and railings of his travel bag. In his confession, Nwankwo said he liquidated his marble business and every asset he owned to raise the ₦23 million used to purchase the consignment, hoping to resell it in India for as much as ₦100 million. He remains in custody awaiting prosecution.
The arrest was one of several major operations carried out by NDLEA commands across the country between August 7 and 14.
In Lagos, operatives raided a warehouse in the Okota area and recovered 3,776 cartons — containing 377,600 bottles — of codeine-based syrup valued at over ₦2.6 billion. In a separate raid on the Ipaja residence of 55-year-old suspect Shoremi Kayode, operatives recovered 324 kilograms of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis strain worth an estimated ₦972 million, along with a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota Corolla.
In Kwara State, two suspects were arrested at Kam Wire, Ilorin, with 55.96kg of skunk found in a truck, while along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Oyo State, two more suspects — including a 70-year-old man — were nabbed with 52,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 6,000 ampoules of tramadol injection.
Along the Onitsha/Asaba expressway, two suspects were arrested with a haul that included 124,100 tramadol pills, 786 bottles of codeine syrup, 2,598 rohypnol tablets, 4,800 diazepam tablets, and hundreds of pentazocine and tramadol ampoules. A separate suspect was arrested along the Kwale/Ozoro expressway with 1,244 cartridges and ₦8 million in cash.
In Plateau State, a Toyota Corolla was intercepted along the Riyom/Jos road, yielding 239,490 caps of tramaforce and the arrest of one suspect.
Kano recorded two major operations. Along the Zaria-Kano road, six suspects were arrested with a large consignment of opioids, including 728,958 pills of tramadol and rohypnol, alongside 360 grams of cocaine, 99.8 grams of methamphetamine, 50 bottles of codeine syrup, and 2.7 kilograms of a cannabis strain known as Loud. In a separate raid at Kumbotso LGA, two suspects were arrested with 171 blocks of skunk weighing 106.8kg.
In Edo State, operatives destroyed 4,628.9775kg of skunk across two cannabis farms spanning roughly 1.85 hectares in Orhionmwon LGA, arresting one suspect on-site. A second suspect was later arrested in Benin City with 25.857kg of Loud and 93 grams of methamphetamine.
Alongside enforcement operations, NDLEA continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign, delivering sensitisation lectures to students and staff at schools in Kano and Lagos.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers across the participating commands — Lagos, Kano, Kwara, Edo, Plateau, Oyo and Delta — for what he described as a balanced pursuit of both supply reduction and demand reduction in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.
