The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted two drug kingpins attempting to smuggle heroin into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos and the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) in Rivers State.
The suspects excreted a combined 125 wraps of heroin after being placed under observation, according to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, in a statement on Sunday.
One of the traffickers, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, 30, who also holds a Sierra Leonean passport under the alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday, was apprehended at Port Harcourt airport on February 2, 2025.
He had arrived on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja. A body scan confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs, and he later expelled 62 wraps of heroin weighing 1.348 kilograms over five excretions.
An investigation revealed he had been trafficking drugs across Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa since 2017 after his clothing and shoe business collapsed.
The second suspect, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested at the Lagos airport on February 1 upon arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
Babafemi explained that the suspect excreted 63 wraps of heroin, totaling 909 grams. Chinoso had travelled from Lagos to Madagascar on January 26 and returned a week later. He admitted to turning to drug trafficking after his phone accessories business in Liberia failed.
“In addition to these arrests, NDLEA operatives at a courier firm in Lagos intercepted two parcels of ‘Loud,’ a synthetic cannabis strain weighing 2.82 kilograms, imported from the United States. Another operation at a different logistics company in Lagos led to the seizure of 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection (225 grams) concealed in cartons bound for Canada.
“Meanwhile, in Kano, two suspects, Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, both 23, were arrested on February 3 at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria Road, with 15,396 tramadol pills hidden inside a gas cylinder. In another operation the same day, a woman, Chioma Okeke, 35, was caught with 27 blocks of skunk cannabis, weighing 15 kilograms, in the Sabon Gari area of Kano.
“In Kogi State, NDLEA officers patrolling the Kabba-Obajana highway on February 8 intercepted a consignment of 12,800 tramadol pills bound for Shuwarin, Jigawa State, leading to the arrest of a suspect, Salisu Basiru, 33. Another suspect, Rufai Hassan, 32, was caught at the same checkpoint with 65 parcels of Colorado, a potent synthetic cannabis strain weighing 1.6 kilograms, also headed to Jigawa,” the statement added.
