A Nigeria-based businessman and two Angolan nationals excreted a combined 236 wraps of cocaine after being arrested at two Nigerian international airports, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said Sunday.
The agency said the Nigerian suspect, 34-year-old Ibeanu Chukwudulue, was arrested Feb. 4 while onboard a Qatar Airways flight traveling from Kano to China via Abuja and Doha.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, operatives acting on intelligence requested that Chukwudulue be removed from the aircraft during a stop in Abuja. A body scan later confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs.
He was placed under observation and subsequently excreted 52 pellets of cocaine weighing 735.95 grams, the agency said.
Chukwudulue told investigators he previously operated a business on Lagos Island before relocating to Guangzhou, China, in 2024, Babafemi said.
On the same day, NDLEA officers at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport intercepted two Angolan nationals during outbound screening for an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Istanbul via Addis Ababa.
The suspects, identified as Mbandu Martins Makiadi, 50, and Ngoma Wilson Fernando, 52, tested positive for ingesting illicit drugs following body scans, the agency said.
While under observation, Makiadi excreted 76 wraps of cocaine weighing 920 grams in seven sessions, and Fernando expelled 108 pellets weighing 1.33 kilograms in five sessions, Babafemi said.
The two men, both from Hoji Ya Henda in Luanda, Angola’s capital, told investigators they were recruited by an automobile spare parts dealer in Luanda who promised to pay them $3,000 each upon successful delivery of the drugs in Turkey.
In a related operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives thwarted an attempt to export 1.10 kilograms of cocaine concealed in processed cassava granules, commonly known as garri, to London on a Virgin Atlantic flight.
The agency said the scheme was linked to Olashupo Michael Oladimeji, a convicted drug trafficker currently serving a five-year prison sentence at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre following his 2025 conviction for conspiracy to export 17.90 kilograms of cocaine.
Investigators said Oladimeji orchestrated the latest attempt from prison using his logistics company, Dimeji Express Logistics. A company staff member, Adedeji Yusuf Gbolahan, who presented the consignment for export, was arrested.
Authorities said Oladimeji directed the employee to collect the package from a location in Oshodi, a suburb of Lagos.
In another Lagos operation, officers seized 1.70 kilograms of skunk concealed in five jerrycans destined for the United Kingdom. A cargo agent was arrested at the export shed, and a suspect, Adelaja Taiwo Adetayo, 44, was later apprehended in the Ahmadiyya area of Lagos, the agency said.
In Abuja, operatives intercepted a package sent from Enugu containing a children’s toy guitar used to conceal 59.2 grams of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis. The consignor, identified as Henry Onuma, was arrested in the Life Camp area of the capital, Babafemi said.
Elsewhere, a 45-year-old woman, Oluwayemisi Bunmi, was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State, where officers recovered 1.189 kilograms of skunk, 320 grams of methamphetamine, nearly 3 million naira in cash and two vehicles, the agency said.
In Kwara State, operatives intercepted a vehicle and recovered 105,400 pills of tramadol from a suspect identified as Kamilu Abdullahi, 43.
The NDLEA said it has intensified interdiction efforts nationwide following a surge in attempts to smuggle illicit drugs through Nigeria’s international airports and logistics networks.
