NDLEA arrests 74-year-old man with 11kg cocaine at Abuja airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 74-year-old man at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after allegedly discovering 11 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in food items in his luggage.

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s director of media and advocacy, said the suspect, identified as Ikwuakalom Nwakoro Emeka, was intercepted at the departure hall while attempting to board a British Airways flight to London.

Babafemi said the suspect claimed he was travelling to the United Kingdom for vacation but was stopped during routine security checks by NDLEA operatives.

According to him, a search of the suspect’s luggage revealed blocks of cocaine weighing about 11kg hidden in food items, including ground dry pepper, and wrapped in foil papers and balloons.

The spokesperson said the arrest was part of a series of operations carried out by the agency across the country in the past week.

Babafemi said NDLEA operatives in Lagos also arrested a woman, Maryam Olalowo, at a hotel in Victoria Island while she was allegedly attempting to sell 89 grammes of cocaine and 20 grammes of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis.

He said the suspect was found with her three children, including an infant, at the time of the arrest.

According to him, the suspect later told investigators that the drugs belonged to her husband, Ibrahim Olatunji, who was subsequently arrested the same day.

Babafemi added that Olatunji admitted ownership of the drugs during interrogation, noting that he had previously been arrested, convicted, and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for a similar offence in 2015.

In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA officers arrested two suspects — Kalilou Simpara and Saidu Ibrahim — on Lagos Island with 68,000 pills of tramadol.

Babafemi said the suspects had loaded the drugs into a truck and were preparing to transport them to the Benin Republic before they were intercepted.

He added that a follow-up operation led to the arrest of Nnamdi Cyprian, identified as the owner of the consignment, at Idumota market, where officers also recovered 1,000 tablets of tramadol prepared for waybill delivery.

The NDLEA spokesperson further disclosed that another raid at the same market resulted in the arrest of Nwanosike Kelvin, from whose shop operatives recovered 47,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection.

Babafemi said NDLEA operatives in Kano State arrested a suspect, Magaji Dan Azumi, with 386 kilogrammes of skunk, while another suspect, Isah Wako, was apprehended in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory with 282.2 kilogrammes of the substance.

He added that officers in Edo State raided the Egwa forest reserve in Orhionmwon LGA, where a suspect was arrested and over four tonnes of skunk were destroyed on cannabis farms.

Babafemi also said 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted in two containers at the Apapa seaport in Lagos during a joint examination involving NDLEA operatives and other security agencies.

Meanwhile, Buba Marwa, chairman and chief executive officer of NDLEA, commended officers involved in the operations across the country for the arrests and seizures recorded in the past week.

He also urged commands nationwide to sustain efforts aimed at reducing both the supply and demand for illicit drugs in the country.