The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a businessman who allegedly excreted 68 wraps of cocaine at the local wings of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.

NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja that the Onitsha, Anambra State-based-businessman, Ibeanusi Nosike, excreted the cocaine after 12 days of excretion observation.

Mr Babafemi said 36-year-old Mr Nosike was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, August 8, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport.

He said this was while Mr Nosike attempted to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja, where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, at about 10:00 a.m. the same day.

“The suspect who came under NDLEA surveillance following intelligence had arrived in Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra State, the previous day, August 7.

“The suspect lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight the following morning.

“He was thereafter intercepted by NDLEA operatives who moved him into excretion observation, where he spent the next 12 days excreting the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilogrammes,” he said.

Meanwhile, another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Mbadugha, was arrested by the NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja on August 12.

Mr Babafemi said Mr Mbadugha was arrested during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha after he tested positive for ingestion of cocaine.

“After four days under observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilogrammes,” he said.

In the same vein, another Onitsha-based businessman, Chukwudi Aligbo, was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20kg cannabis concealed in a package going to Dubai, UAE.

Mr Babafemi said operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command of the agency had intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport while investigations revealed the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha.

“After a series of follow-up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday, August 17,” he said.

(NAN)