Photo: Rufai Hassan, a drug suspect
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has busted two drug kingpins’ audacious plans to smuggle heroin into Nigeria through Port Harcourt and Lagos airports.
One of the suspects, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, 30, was caught at Port Harcourt airport while travelling under the false identity “Kargbo Mohamed Foday” with a Sierra Leonean passport.
NDLEA said a body scan revealed he had swallowed 62 wraps of heroin weighing 1.348 kilograms, adding that Sylvanus has used both Nigerian and Sierra Leonean identities for drug trafficking between countries like Thailand, Pakistan, and Iran.
Another suspect, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested at Lagos airport after arriving from Madagascar. A body scan confirmed 63 wraps of heroin weighing 909 grams in his system. Chinoso said he turned to drug trafficking after his business in Liberia failed.
Additionally, on February 6, NDLEA intercepted 2.82 kg of synthetic cannabis at a Lagos courier firm and 80 ampoules of pentazocine heading to Canada.
In Kano, on February 3, two men were arrested with over 15,000 tramadol pills hidden in a gas cylinder, and Choima Okeke, 35, was caught with 15 kg of cannabis.
On February 8, NDLEA officers in Kogi seized 12,800 tramadol pills and arrested two more suspects with synthetic cannabis.
NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the efforts of the agency’s officers across the country for these successful operations.
