NDLEA arrests India-Bound businessman with cocaine, recovers N3.6bn colos, codeine

Nigerian authorities have apprehended a businessman who liquidated his assets in pursuit of illicit drug trafficking, only to be caught at the airport with a significant quantity of cocaine.

The suspect, identified as Nwankwo Innocent Onyebuchi, 48, was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to New Delhi, India. He was found with 1.550 kilograms of cocaine cleverly concealed within the walls and railings of his bag.

Nwankwo confessed to selling his marble business and all other assets to raise the N23 million required for the consignment. He had anticipated selling the drugs in India for a substantial profit of N100 million, a dream that was shattered upon his arrest.

In parallel operations, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) also made substantial seizures in Lagos. Operatives raided a warehouse containing 3,776 cartons of codeine-based syrup, valued at over N2.6 billion. Additionally, in another raid, 324 kilograms of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis strain with a street value of N972 million, were recovered from a kingpin's residence.

Further interdictions occurred in Kwara and along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where various quantities of skunk, pentazocine injection, tramadol, rohypnol, and diazepam were seized from multiple suspects. These operations underscore the NDLEA's ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking across Nigeria.

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With his assets gone, and Nwankwo’s dream of transiting from a marble trader to a drug kingpin effectively shattered following his arrest, the suspect remains in custody awaiting prosecution and likely time in jail.