Two businessmen, Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, along with Canada-based nurse Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos.
They attempted to import and export cocaine pellets and parcels of “Loud,” a synthetic strain of cannabis, through the airport.
Ihejirika, who frequently travels to Thailand claiming to import fish into Nigeria, was apprehended on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, as he attempted to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
A body scan revealed that he had ingested cocaine. Under excretion observation, he expelled five large wraps of the drug, weighing 400 grams. The 51-year-old suspect confessed that he was to be paid upon successful delivery of the drugs in Thailand, as he needed the money to support his fish importation business.
On Thursday, October 17, NDLEA operatives intercepted 26-year-old Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, arriving from Brazil via Addis Ababa during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers. A body scan indicated he had ingested illicit drugs, and upon observation, he expelled a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grams.
He confessed to having ingested 30 wraps of the drug in Brazil but only expelled 29 pellets in Addis Ababa, where he handed one over to another person. He revealed that he was promised N2.5 million for trafficking the drugs.
In a separate case, Nigerian-Canadian nurse Usman Grace Khadijat Olami was arrested on October 4 at the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of Air France passengers from Toronto, Canada, via Paris. A search of her luggage uncovered 70 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 35.70 kg.
During questioning, she claimed she had come to Nigeria to meet her boyfriend, who had instructed her to bring the large consignment of the highly sought-after synthetic cannabis.
