It was a near death experience as a 59-year-old businessman Chijioke Nnanna Igbokwe has undergone a surgery, exploratory laparotomy, to let out 57 out of 81 pellets of cocaine stuck in his stomach after seven days of ingesting the illicit substance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Igbokwe was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday 26th January 2025.
He was promptly taken for body scan, which revealed illicit drugs in his system.
He was soon after taken into NDLEA custody for excretion observation. 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.
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 on Thursday 30th January.
In all, a total of 81 pellets of the Class A drug with a gross weight of 1.943 kilograms were recovered from his stomach.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday 29th January intercepted a consignment of 2,000 kilograms 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 55kg skunk during a raid at his base in Mushin area of Lagos.
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. Instances include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Grand Light Model School, Ata Udosung, Akwa Ibom; Community Grammar School, Iganna, Iwajowa LGA, Oyo state; Ebute Afuye Primary School, Epe, Lagos state; Akwakuma Girls Secondary School, Owerri, Imo state; and Federal Government College, Kebbe, Sokoto state, while the Kogi state command of the Agency paid a WADA advocacy visit to Attah of Igala, HRH Mathew Opaluwa Oguche at his palace in Idah, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA Strategic Command for their vigilance and professionalism in handling Chijioke Igbokwe’s case, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) 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. He 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 .
