By Abiola Olawale
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced a major interception of hard drugs allegedly involving a 26-year-old lady named Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma.
The NDLEA said the 26-year-old lady was caught attempting to smuggle a staggering 76 wraps of cocaine just hours before her scheduled return flight to a South Asian country.
The arrest was said to have unfolded at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in Kano.
NDLEA identified Uzodinma as a 200-level nursing student at Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India.
According to the agency, Esther Uzodinma was scheduled to return to New Delhi, India, from MAKIA Kano on Qatar Airways flight 1432 on Friday, 17th January 2025, but was arrested in her room at 11:30 pm on Thursday, 16th January, at Royal Park Hotel Sabon Garin Kano, while awaiting the cocaine consignment she was to ingest before her flight the following morning.
Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, made this known in a statement issued on Sunday.
Babafemi said that luck ran out for the suspect when NDLEA operatives, on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State on Thursday, 16th January, intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in a commuter bus coming from Lagos en route to Kano.
He disclosed that inside the suspect’s black polythene bag was an audio speaker, which concealed 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.340 kilograms that he was going to deliver to Esther in Kano. A swift follow-up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the female nursing student later that same day.
The NDLEA spokesman stated that Esther, in her statement, claimed that the drug cartel she was working for recruited her in India and paid for her trip to Nigeria to enjoy her Christmas and New Year holidays.
Babafemi said: “In other operations along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway, NDLEA officers arrested four suspects: Abdullahi Umar, Tijjani Samaila, Lucky Obotte, and Abubakar Haruna, who were heading to Maiduguri, Borno State, Kano, and Abuja in commuter vehicles with over 38,000 pills of tramadol 225mg, 250mg, and 100mg concealed in audio speakers and clothes.
“In Lagos, operatives of a special operations unit of the agency, on Tuesday, 14th January, raided the hideout of 59-year-old Nwokedi Emeka Jonas in Ojodu-Berger area of the state, where they recovered 10 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.9kg, as well as different paper bags he used to dispense the psychoactive substance in retail quantities. Printed on them were street names and codes such as ‘Dead Man,’ ‘Gelato Top Shelf Smoke,’ ‘TopShelf,’ and ‘Gelato Cake.’”
He continued: “In other operations in Lagos, operatives of the state command of the agency, on Wednesday, 15th January, raided a house in Igando New Town area of Alimosho, where they arrested three suspects: Isaac Vincent (32), Ebube Ikechi (25), and Christopher Usifoh (43), from whom 1,610kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and 6kg of tramadol pills were recovered. Also recovered from the house were a delivery van and three other vehicles used for distributing the illicit drugs.
“Two suspects, Olashile Okoya and Mohammed Ibrahim, were arrested on Saturday, 18th January, when NDLEA officers raided their home at 5A Addison Palmer, Cadogan Estate, Castle Rock Avenue, Osapa, Lekki, Lagos, where 28 kilograms of Canadian Loud were recovered following credible intelligence.”
