The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two businessmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with cocaine and heroin going to Hong Kong and France concealed in their bellies.

While 38-year-old ThankGod Chimamkpa Emenike was arrested at the boarding gate of the Abuja airport during the outward clearance of passengers on Air France flight 818 to Paris on Friday, October 20, another passenger, 41-year-old Agbo Chidike Prince was taken into NDLEA custody on Saturday, October 21, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 950 to Hong Kong via Addis Ababa.

The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday, October 29, noted that the suspects were both arrested and detained after their body scan revealed they ingested the illicit drugs.

Babafemi stated that after days in custody and a number of excretions, Emenike excreted 72 wraps of heroin weighing 1.171 kilograms, while Chidike discharged 49 pellets of cocaine with a total weight of 998.53grams.

He disclosed that Chidike, in his statement, claimed he is a businessman dealing in spare parts at the Alaba International market in the Ojo area of Lagos.

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The NDLEA spokesman said the suspect added that he was to be paid N3.5 million which he intended to use to import goods from Hong Kong.

Babafemi noted that the operatives of the Lagos Command of the NDLEA intercepted and recovered a vehicle loaded with 209kgs of Loud at the Okun Ajah area of the state on Monday, October 23.

He said the anti-narcotics officers also recovered an abandoned consignment of 401 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 392kgs and 21,000 capsules of tramadol in the Tumfure area of Gombe State on Saturday, October 28.

He added that the NDLEA operatives, in the early hours of Sunday, October 29, stormed the Utese forest in the Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State and evacuated a total of 2,931.3 kilograms of cannabis sativa from a warehouse in the forest.

While commending the officers of the anti-drug agency for the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), urged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency to maintain the offensive action tempo and strive to surpass previous records while maintaining a balance with their drug demand reduction efforts.

The Star