OPERATIVES of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a fake couple and other drugs dealers in some parts of the country in the past seven days.
The couple, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi and Ilonzeh Roseline Nonyelum, who were purportedly going for medical treatment in India, ingested 184 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.322 kilograms with another 100grams of the drug also concealed in the woman’s private part.
A statement by the Agency’s spokesperson Femi Babafemi on Sunday, August 6, confirmed that the two suspects were intercepted at the Screening Point 1, Terminal 1 of the international wing of the Lagos airport on Tuesday 1st August 2023 while attempting to board an Ethiopian airline flight to India.
The NDLEA, said although travel documents show consistency in their names and depict them as a couple, preliminary investigation revealed that the intending passengers were not a couple but obtained the travel documents in the same surname to beat security checks at the airport.
A body scan by the agency operatives revealed they both ingested drugs as a result of which they were later placed on excretion observation at the Agency’s facility.
The statement also said the lady, Roseline, during her interview, confessed that she was recruited in her church in Aba, Abia state, where she lives, adding that she is a divorcee, and Kingsley with whom she was travelling was not her real husband.
According to her, Kingsley, the fake husband, brought the pellets of cocaine to her to ingest in her room in the hotel where they were both lodged on Monday, July 31.
Part of the statement read: “After their arrest, a thorough search conducted on her led to the discovery of a big size wrap of cocaine that weighed 100 grams she inserted into her private part. She confessed that she was promised Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) upon successful delivery of the drug in India.”
“In his own statement, Kingsley who was into clothing business in Onitsha, Anambra state, claimed he was promised Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000) after a successful delivery of the drug in India. A further search of the Agency’s crime data base revealed that Kingsley also obtained his travel documents with fake identity for the trip. Indeed, it was established that he was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on 19th March 2022 for ingesting 100 wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243kgs upon his arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on board an Ethiopian airline flight. His travel documents then contained his real name: Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian.
“After his arrest at the Abuja airport on 19th March 2022 along with another suspect, Iro Elvis Uche who also ingested 65 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.376kgs, Uwaezuoke was subsequently arraigned before Justice Zainab Abubakar of the Federal High Court Abuja with charge number: FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022. He was eventually granted bail by the court pending the conclusion of his trial. He is still on the court bail when he was arrested at the Lagos airport for a similar offence on Tuesday 1st August.”
According to the statement, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi excreted a total of 82 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.822kgs in five excretions, while Ilonzeh Roseline Nonyelum egested 101 wraps in four excretions.
Also, a bid size wrap of the substance recovered from her private part, all weighing 1.50kgs.
In the same vein, the NDLEA operatives attached to courier companies in Lagos intercepted various quantities of Dextromethorphan mixed with heroin; Methamphetamine, Dimethyl Sulfone and Cannabis concealed in different objects going to Europe.
“While 272 grams of dextromethorphan mixed with heroin going to Greece were recovered from white neck beads; 665 grams of cannabis being shipped to Hong Kong were hidden in bars of Dudu Osun black bathing soap; with 261 grams of Dimethyl Sulfone going to New Zealand hidden in reels of weaving threads and 1.5kgs of Methamphetamine also going to New Zealand neatly packed in an MP3 player after all the parts were removed and the substance stuffed as replacement.
“In Kano state, a woman and four men: Ladi Peter,47; Umar Salisu, 38; Ahmed Naheeb, 36; Ibrahim Umar, 42, and Musa Suleman, 43, were arrested in connection with the seizure of 977.7 kilograms of cannabis sativa from them by NDLEA operatives along Zaria-Kano road, Kwanar Dangora on Friday 4th August and Monday 31st July. In the same vein, 2,445 kilograms of cannabis sativa were recovered from the warehouse of a fleeing suspect, Usman Nar at Madinatu area of Jere LGA, Borno state on Saturday 5th August.”
Also, no fewer than 57,450 pills of tramadol, Rohypnol and exol-5 as well as 4,082 bottles of codeine-based syrup, were recovered from a suspect, Joseph Usman, in a commercial bus.
The suspect was eroute to Abuja along the Abaji-Abuja highway from Onitsha Anambra state on Friday, August 4.
The chairman/chief executive of the NDLEA, a Brigadier-General Mohamed, Buba Marwa, charged his officers in all state commands to remain vigilant and keep their focus on the corporate goal of the agency.
On Saturday, July 15, The ICIR reported that the Republic of Seychelles confirmed a ban on Nigerian tourists due to criminal activities traced to some Nigerian tourists, including drug trafficking and fraud.
“We have seen a clear link between this with certain people from Nigeria. In the past two weeks, for example, 13 people coming from Nigeria have been arrested when entering Seychelles because they were carrying drugs into the country,” the country’s Vice President Ahmed Afif said.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M