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Two Europe-based Nigerian businessmen have been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for attempting to smuggle 200 wraps of cocaine to Paris, France.
The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, excreted a total of 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilograms after ingesting the illicit substance.
The NDLEA disclosed this in a statement on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the agency, the suspects were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF 832 from Abuja to Paris.
Odife, who reportedly lives in France and works in a factory, arrived in Nigeria for a short holiday on October 21.
He was arrested while attempting to return to France after a body scan conducted by NDLEA operatives confirmed the presence of foreign objects in his stomach.
During interrogation, he admitted to ingesting 110 pellets of cocaine. He was subsequently placed under observation and excreted all 110 wraps, weighing 1.901 kilograms.
His co-traveller, Blackborn, was also arrested at the departure hall after a body scan indicated that he had ingested illicit substances.
He confessed to swallowing 90 pellets of cocaine and subsequently excreted all of them under observation. The recovered drugs weighed 1.559 kilograms.
In a separate operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two commercial vehicles conveying a total of 976 kilograms of skunk, a strong strain of cannabis.
The first seizure occurred on Sunday, October 25, along Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, where officers recovered 537 kilograms of the substance from a white Volkswagen LT 28 bus.
Another 439 kilograms were recovered the same day from a brown J5 bus intercepted along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway.
In Oyo State, two suspects, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on Thursday, October 29, while loading 554 kilograms of skunk into a Volvo truck along Idere Road, Igboora.
The operation was reportedly a follow-up to an earlier raid targeting a notorious drug dealer identified as Omo Oba, who escaped arrest on October 25 after NDLEA operatives seized 309.5 kilograms of Ghanaian Loud linked to him.
In Kano State, operatives raided a location in the Tsamiya area of Gezawa on October 26, recovering 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilograms and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilograms.
Two days later, officers arrested Ziya’ulhaq Abdullahi, 35, and Garba Muhammed, 52, in the Dorayi area with 19,250 pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 13.6 kilograms.
The agency also reported the arrest of a woman, Aisha Isah, along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition.
Similarly, a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was arrested at Gwargwaje, Zaria, along the Zaria-Kano Expressway.
He was allegedly found with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 tablets of diazepam and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.
Another raid at Tashan Banke area of Kano State led to the arrest of seven suspects, including Faisal Adamu, and the recovery of 178.85 kilograms of cannabis, alongside quantities of diazepam, tramadol, Exol-5 and pregabalin.
In Ondo State, four suspects, including Bassey Okon, 24; Abraham Edet, 20; and Oto Udo, 24, were arrested during a raid on cannabis farms in Ijare Forest on October 25.
The operatives recovered 16 bags of processed cannabis weighing 180 kilograms.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, raided Eko Camp in Ilushi, Esan South-East Local Government Area, on October 28.
During the operation, they destroyed a cannabis plantation measuring 1.646 hectares, with an estimated yield of 4,115.53 kilograms.
A 50-year-old woman, Christiana Uboi, was arrested at the camp with 301 kilograms of processed cannabis, while another 176 kilograms were recovered during the raid.
In Sokoto State, operatives of the agency’s Zone 7 Command arrested a 68-year-old man, Ibrahim Ayuba, with 236.6 kilograms of skunk on Saturday, October 31.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA said its commands across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
The agency listed Obawole Grammar School II, Ojodu, Lagos; Nsukka High School, Enugu State; Government Technical College, Dorayi Babba Rijiyar Zaki, Kano State; and Ajagbe Comprehensive High School, Iperu, Ogun State, among institutions covered during the week.
Reacting to the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the agency’s commands in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo and Edo states.
Marwa described the arrest of the two cocaine couriers at Abuja airport as a warning to Nigerians living abroad who believe their foreign residence could provide cover for drug trafficking.
He said NDLEA operatives at the country’s entry and exit points remained vigilant, warning that there would be no hiding place for anyone who risked their lives and liberty by ingesting illicit drugs for money.
The NDLEA chairman also urged officers to sustain the fight against drug cartels and intensify drug demand reduction efforts through continued sensitisation campaigns.
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