The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two brothers, Ikechukwu Ikeabba and Ugochukwu Ikeabba, who are alleged sponsors of drug traffickers who specialise in exporting drugs by ingestion to Vietnam.

The operatives of a Special Operations Unit of NDLEA apprehended the brothers on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.

The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, September 15, said the brothers’ arrest followed a diligent investigation of an earlier arrest of an Onitsha in Anambra State based-businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, who excreted 68 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.282 kilograms after 12 days of excretion observation following his arrest at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos by the anti-narcotic operatives.

Babafemi said 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested on August 8 at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja at about 10 a.m. the same day.

Babafemi noted that another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, had been arrested by the NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on August 12 during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive for ingestion of cocaine.

He stated that after Mbadugha, four days under observation, egested 88 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.

Woman, man arrested over attempt to export cocaine hidden in custard

The NDLEA spokesman said the Ikeabba brothers were caught with 87 wraps of cocaine dummies used in training intending swallowers during their arrest.

Babafemi added that the NDLEA operatives, while acting on credible intelligence on Saturday, September 14, arrested three suspects – Auwal Abdullahi, Isah Rabiu, and Abubakar Da’u – while travelling in a DAF truck along the Bauchi-Gombe expressway in Gombe State.

Babafemi revealed that a search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 2,490,000 pills of tramadol concealed with bags of salt.

He further stated that the NDLEA operatives discovered 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup in two containers shipped from India during a joint examination of the containers with the officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the Tincan port in Lagos on Tuesday, September 10.

He said the containers were part of those targeted by the NDLEA for 100 per cent examination.

While commending the anti-narcotic officers for the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country were well appreciated.

Marawa also urged them to continue to intensify ongoing drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts in the country.

The Star