October 20, 2024
By Samuel Ogunsona
A Canada-based nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, and two Nigerian businessmen, Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, were apprehended by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The trio attempted to import and export cocaine pellets and parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, through the airport.
Ihejirika, who regularly visits Thailand to import fish into Nigeria, was taken into custody on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
He was caught while trying to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, said in a statement on Sunday.
He said, “When he was taken for body scan, the result showed he ingested illicit drug which proved to be cocaine. As a result, he was placed under excretion observation during which he expelled five big egg size wraps of cocaine weighing 400grams.
“In his statement, the 51-year-old suspect confessed that he was to be paid upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Thailand. He said he needed the money to boost his fish importation business.
“In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport on Thursday 17th October intercepted a 26-year-old businessman Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory coming from Brazil via Addis Ababa during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight. His body scan revealed ingestion of illicit drug. When he was put under observation, he excreted a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grams.
“He however confessed that he ingested 30 wraps of the illicit drug in Brazil but excreted 29 pellets in Addis Ababa, where he handed them over to another person. The suspect revealed that he was to be paid N2.5 million for trafficking the drug.
“Meanwhile, a Nigerian Canadian nurse Usman Grace Khadijat Olami was on 4th October arrested by NDLEA officers at the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of Air France passengers from Toronto, Canada via Paris. During a search of her luggage, a total of 70 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 35.70kg were recovered from her.
“During her interview, she claimed she was in Nigeria to meet her boyfriend who instructed her to come with the large consignment of the highly sought-after synthetic cannabis.”
