Two accused drug kingpins who ejected 125 wraps of heroin at Port Harcourt International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos have been taken into custody by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
In a statement released on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi confirmed the arrests of the two suspects.
After being observed, the suspects collectively excreted 125 wraps of heroin.
On February 2, 2025, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, 30, a trafficker who also possesses a Sierra Leonean passport, was captured at Port Harcourt airport using the alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday.
He had flown in from Doha via Abuja on a Qatar Airways flight. He subsequently ejected 62 wraps of heroin, weighing 1.348 kilogrammes, across five excretions, after a body scan verified that he had consumed illegal substances.
After his clothes and shoe business failed in 2017, he had been trafficking drugs throughout Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa.
On February 1, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, the second suspect, was taken into custody at the Lagos airport after arriving from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
“A body scan confirmed he had illicit drugs in his system. Under observation, he excreted 63 wraps of heroin weighing 909 grams,” Babafemi stated.
“He turned to drug trafficking after his phone accessories business in Liberia collapsed.”
“In addition to these arrests, NDLEA operatives at a courier firm in Lagos intercepted two parcels of ‘Loud,’ a synthetic cannabis strain weighing 2.82 kilograms, imported from the United States. Another operation at a different logistics company in Lagos led to the seizure of 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection (225 grams) concealed in cartons bound for Canada.
“Meanwhile, in Kano, two suspects, Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, both 23, were arrested on February 3 at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria Road, with 15,396 tramadol pills hidden inside a gas cylinder. In another operation the same day, a woman, Chioma Okeke, 35, was caught with 27 blocks of skunk cannabis, weighing 15 kilograms, in the Sabon Gari area of Kano.
“In Kogi State, NDLEA officers patrolling the Kabba-Obajana highway on February 8 intercepted a consignment of 12,800 tramadol pills bound for Shuwarin, Jigawa State, leading to the arrest of a suspect, Salisu Basiru, 33. Another suspect, Rufai Hassan, 32, was caught at the same checkpoint with 65 parcels of Colorado, a potent synthetic cannabis strain weighing 1.6 kilograms, also headed to Jigawa.”