9th February, 2025
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
In a dramatic crackdown on international drug trafficking, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by two drug kingpins to smuggle heroin into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Port Harcourt International Airport.
The traffickers, who swallowed the illicit substances in a desperate bid to evade detection, were intercepted by NDLEA operatives and placed under excretion observation, leading to the recovery of a combined total of 125 wraps of heroin.
NDLEA‘s spokesman, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said one of the arrested traffickers, 30-year-old Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus—who also operates under the alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday using a Sierra Leonean passport—was apprehended at the Port Harcourt airport on Sunday, 2nd February 2025.
He said NDLEA officers caught him during the inward clearance of a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja, saying a body scan confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs, leading to a tense waiting game as he was placed under observation.
“In five separate excretions, he expelled 62 wraps of heroin weighing 1.348 kilogrammes,” he said.
“Sylvanus, a seasoned trafficker who alternates between his Nigerian and Sierra Leonean identities, reportedly shuttles between Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa, ferrying drugs across international borders. He confessed to abandoning his clothing and shoe business in 2017 to go full-time into drug trafficking,” he explained.
The second kingpin, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, Babafemi disclosed, was arrested on Saturday, 1st February, at the Lagos airport upon his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“NDLEA officials, acting on intelligence, subjected him to a body scan that exposed his desperate attempt to conceal heroin internally. Under strict surveillance, Chinoso excreted 63 wraps of heroin, weighing 909 grams. He admitted that financial hardship following the collapse of his phone accessories business in Liberia drove him into the illicit trade,” he added.
In a series of other operations, NDLEA operatives made more shocking discoveries. In Lagos, on Thursday, 6th February, officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted two parcels of Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United States and destined for Lagos.
The consignment, weighing 2.82 kilogrammes, was seized at a courier firm. In another operation at a different logistics company, officers intercepted 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection, weighing 225 grams, concealed in cartons bound for Canada.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives arrested two traffickers, Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, both aged 23, at Gadar Tamburawa along the Zaria Road.
They were caught red-handed transporting 15,396 tramadol pills cleverly hidden inside a gas cylinder. That same day, a female suspect, 35-year-old Chioma Okeke, was nabbed in the Sabon Gari area with 27 blocks of skunk, weighing 15 kilograms.
The agency’s operation also extended to Kogi State, where officers intercepted 12,800 tramadol pills destined for Shuwarin in Jigawa State.
The suspect, 33-year-old Salisu Basiru, was arrested along the Kabba-Obajana highway on Saturday, 8th February. At the same checkpoint, another trafficker, 32-year-old Rufai Hassan, was caught with 65 parcels of Colorado, a high-grade synthetic cannabis strain, weighing 1.6 kilograms.
NDLEA Chief Issues Stern Warning
Reacting to the wave of arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the operatives for their relentless efforts in the fight against drug trafficking.
“The dedication and vigilance of our officers at MMIA, PHIA, DOGI, Kano, and Kogi Commands continue to dismantle drug networks and prevent dangerous substances from flooding our communities,” Marwa stated.
