NDLEA arrests China-based businessman, two Angolans with 236 cocaine pellets at Abuja, Kano airports

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a China-based Nigerian businessman and two Angolan nationals for ingesting and attempting to traffic cocaine through major Nigerian airports.

The suspects were intercepted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, where they later excreted a combined total of 236 wraps of cocaine.

The Nigerian suspect, Ibeanu Vincent Chukwudulue, 34, was removed from a Qatar Airways flight after a body scan confirmed drug ingestion. He subsequently excreted 52 pellets weighing 735.95 grams. He told investigators he had previously run a business in Lagos before relocating to Guangzhou, China.

At Kano airport, Angolan nationals Mbandu Martins Makiadi and Ngoma Wilson Fernando were stopped while boarding an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Turkey. Under observation, they excreted 76 and 108 wraps of cocaine respectively, weighing over 2.2 kilograms combined.

The duo claimed they were promised $3,000 each by a recruiter in Angola to deliver the drugs in Turkey.

The agency said investigations are ongoing and reaffirmed its commitment to tightening surveillance at airports to curb international drug trafficking.