Nigeria Arrests Iran-Bound Courier, 11 Others With N1.1bn Drugs
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday expressed concern over the continued surge in drug smuggling operations across Nigeria, noting that smugglers are paid €2,000 or N3.6m to traffic drugs.
Between Friday, June 7 and Friday, June 14, 2025, the agency arrested 12 suspects, seized 3,535.172 kilograms of illicit drugs, including cocaine, tramadol, codeine-based syrup, skunk, and ecstasy pills, while intercepting narcotics valued at over N1.1 bn.
The agency conducted the seizures across major airports, seaports, highways, and coastal regions in seven states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said one of the discoveries involved a businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, arrested at the Port Harcourt International Airport on June 7 while trying to board a flight to Tehran, Iran, via Doha.
“A body scan proved Ezemokwe positive for ingesting illicit drug. He was placed on excretion observation during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172kg,” Babafemi said.
The suspect, aged 44, admitted he have been trafficking drugs between Iran and the West African subregion for two years.
His arrest came less than two weeks after NDLEA operatives at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano intercepted one Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, a 60-year-old businessman, for ingesting 65 pellets of cocaine also en route to Iran.
On June 14, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, in collaboration with the Aviation Security Unit of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), intercepted an Italy-bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, attempting to smuggle 14,410 pills of tramadol (225mg and 200mg) hidden in winter jackets inside his luggage.
Babafemi said Ali was removed from an Air France flight after scanning and he subsequently confessed that “he was hired in Italy to courier the drugs to Milan for €2,000”.
Using the Central Bank of Nigeria rate of N1,788/€, Ali would earn (N3.6m) for the job.
At the Port Harcourt Port in Onne, operatives conducting a joint examination with Customs and other security agencies on June 13 intercepted a container loaded with 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup—an opioid mixture with a street value of over N1.1 bn.
“The shipment had been disguised behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares” Babafemi noted.
In Cross River State, operatives raided a warehouse in Obereakai, Odukpani LGA, on June 12, arresting three suspects: Friday Achibong Joseph (47), Abraham Anthony Willy (21), and Utibe David Okon (24). They recovered 2,687kg of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis.
That same day, along the Bauchi–Jos Road, officers acting on intelligence intercepted a Toyota Camry with plate number AKL 201 GG and arrested Iriemi Imonikhe (49) and Sa’idu Ladan (30) after discovering 195 blocks of skunk weighing 287kg hidden in the vehicle.
In Lagos, at Oniru Beach, NDLEA’s Marine Command recovered 14 jumbo sacks of skunk weighing 560kg from a wooden boat.
Meanwhile, at the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport, Maiduguri, on the same day, officers arrested Ishaku Abdullahi (30) and Buba Usman (32) with various quantities of ecstasy pills and skunk concealed in branded wraps labelled “Lychee” and “Porro Legal.”
While praising the arrests, Marwa warned traffickers that NDLEA remains committed to disrupting all supply chains.
He acknowledged the efforts of officers at MMIA, PHIA, MBIAM, PHPC, Marine, Cross River, and Bauchi Commands, while urging continued vigilance across the agency’s formations nationwide.
Nigeria Arrests Iran-Bound Courier, 11 Others With N1.1bn Drugs is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
