Iran-bound businessman arrested at Port Harcourt airport for ingesting 53 wraps of cocaine

Barely two weeks after opera­tives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Mallam Aminu Kano In­ternational Airport (MAKIA), Kano, intercepted a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stom­ach, their counterparts at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) have arrested another businessman, 44-year-old Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Chris­tian, for ingesting 53 wraps of the same class A drug while on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran.

A statement by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesman, said Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday, June 7, while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Kho­meini in Iran via Doha.

After a body scan proved pos­itive to ingestion of 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, reports Daily Independent.

The suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed Inter­national Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, in the early hours of Satur­day, June 14, intercepted an Italy bound passenger, Edobor Am­brose Ali, on an Air France flight.

The NDLEA officers in col­laboration with the Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) discovered drug consignments hidden in the luggage of the sus­pect during baggage scanning at the tarmac.

The suspect was thereafter brought down from the aircraft for baggage identification after which a thorough search of the bag led to the discovery of 14, 410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg concealed in winter jack­ets.

In his statement, Ebodor said he lives in Italy where he was hired and sent on the all expense paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Ita­ly for a fee of 2000 Euros.

At the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA operatives on Friday, June 13, in­tercepted a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N1.1 billion in street value, during a joint examination of a watch-listed container with men of Customs Service and other security agencies. The opi­oid consignments were hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares.