A 59-year old businessman could have lost his life while trying to smuggle 81 pellets of cocaine, which he had ingested, to Beirut, Lebanon.
The man, Chijioke Igbokwe was saved by a surgery, exploratory laparotomy, which freed him of 57 out of 81 pellets of cocaine stuck in his stomach after seven days of ingesting the illicit substance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to a statement by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, Igbokwe was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday 26th January 2025.
He said Igbokwe was promptly taken for body scan, which revealed illicit drugs in his system, and was soon after taken into NDLEA custody for excretion observation.
Babafemi said investigation revealed that Igbokwe who claims to be into cloth business at Arena, Oshodi area of Lagos, departed Lagos on 22nd January to Addis Ababa where he ingested the 81 wraps of cocaine the following day 23rd January and boarded a flight to Beirut, Lebanon to deliver the illicit consignment for a fee of $3,000.
Upon his arrival in Beirut, he said he was refused entry because he had less than $2,000, the amount required to grant him entry. He was then deported to Addis Ababa where he attempted excreting the illicit drugs but could not. He thereafter proceeded to Lagos on Saturday 25th January with the consignment in his bowel. He was however arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport by NDLEA officers on 26th January.
After five days under excretion observation, he could only expel 24 pellets following initial medical intervention at the agency’s medical facility and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja.
Babafemi said with the clock ticking for him and the complication of other underlining medical conditions, the suspect was eventually admitted at the tertiary facility where he had to undergo exploratory laparotomy to extract the remaining 57 wraps of cocaine stuck in his stomach after his wife and brother endorsed the necessary consent forms last Thursday.
In all, a total of 81 pellets of the Class A drug with a gross weight of 1.943 kilogrammes were alleged to have being recovered from his stomach.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Lagos last Wednesday intercepted a consignment of 2,000 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud, a strain of cannabis produced in Ghana, at Lekki beach, where two suspects: Sunday Awoyede and Christopher Cletus attempted loading them into a truck. The suspects, the skunk shipment and the van were immediately taken into custody. Another suspect, Lawal Idris Olasunkanmi was also arrested same day with 55 kilogrammes skunk during a raid at his base in Mushin area of Lagos.
Babafemi said across the country, NDLEA commands and formations continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities all through the past week.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) while commending the officers and men of MMIA Strategic Command for their vigilance and professionalism in handling Chijioke Igbokwe’s case, warned those involved in the illicit drug trade that they’re not only destroying the lives of others, but equally putting their own lives at great risk.
He equally applauded the Lagos State Strategic Command for blocking the huge consignment of skunk from coming into the country, and recognized the concerted efforts of their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA social advocacy lectures and sensitization activities to create a balance in drug supply and demand reduction efforts of the agency.
