By Peter Onyekachukwu 
By Peter Onyekachukwu
In a major nationwide crackdown, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled several international and local drug syndicates, seizing narcotics valued at over N1.1 billion and arresting key traffickers attempting to smuggle dangerous substances across borders.
One of the most shocking arrests involved a 44-year-old businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, who was caught at the Port Harcourt International Airport with 53 wraps of cocaine in his stomach. Ezemokwe, who was set to board a Qatar Airways flight to Tehran via Doha on June 7, was intercepted by NDLEA operatives during routine screening.
“After a body scan confirmed ingestion of illicit drugs, he was placed under observation and eventually excreted 53 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.172 kilograms,” said NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi. The suspect reportedly confessed to trafficking drugs between West Africa and Iran for the past two years.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with FAAN Aviation Security, arrested Italy-based Edobor Ambrose Ali with 14,410 tramadol pills hidden in winter jackets inside his luggage. He admitted during interrogation that he was offered €2,000 to deliver the consignment to Milan.
In Rivers State, operatives at the Port Harcourt Seaport intercepted a container packed with 157,800 bottles of codeine syrup disguised behind cartons of ceramic sanitary wares. The street value of the haul is estimated at over N1.1 billion.
The agency also struck hard across other states. In Cross River, three men were arrested with 2,687 kilograms of skunk stored in a warehouse in Odukpani. In Bauchi, two suspects were caught on the Bauchi-Jos highway with 287 kilograms of skunk hidden in a Toyota Camry. At Oniru Beach in Lagos, the NDLEA Marine Command intercepted a wooden boat carrying 560 kilograms of skunk.
The fight extended to the air routes in Borno State, where two businessmen, Ishaku Abdullahi and Buba Usman, were arrested at the Maiduguri Airport with ecstasy pills and skunk concealed in branded packs.
Reacting to the success of the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), praised his officers for their relentless pursuit of drug traffickers and suppliers.
“Our men and women are working round the clock to ensure that drug traffickers find no hiding place in this country. These arrests show that every route, whether by air, land, or sea, is being watched,” Marwa stated.
The NDLEA also intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign by conducting sensitization programmes in schools across Enugu, Ebonyi, Oyo, and Akwa Ibom States, aimed at curbing the rise of substance abuse among young Nigerians.
With these operations, the NDLEA continues to reaffirm its commitment to protecting the nation from the grip of drug trafficking and consumption, one bust at a time.