He confirmed that Okafor was detained with 76 cocaine pellets in his stomach when he tried to board a Qatar Airlines trip from Doha to Iran.

At the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, the 38-year-old suspect Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony was taken into custody by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on charges of drug trafficking.

This is stated in a statement made public on Sunday by NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy Femi Babafemi, who said that the suspect was taken into custody on Sunday, September 15, 2024.

He confirmed that Okafor was detained with 76 cocaine pellets in his stomach when he tried to board a Qatar Airlines trip from Doha to Iran.

After three days under excretion surveillance, Okafor expelled 76 pellets totalling 1.267 kg of the cocaine he had consumed, according to Babafemi.

The statement says, “On Sunday, September 15, NDLEA agents detained 38-year-old Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony, a drug mule, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano. Anthony was trying to board a Qatar Airlines aircraft to Iran via Doha when he was apprehended with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach.

Following three days of excretion monitoring, Okafor expelled 76 pellets totalling 1.267 kg of cocaine.

“In a same vein, in the Tincan port complex in Lagos, NDLEA seized twenty-five million (25,000,000.00) pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times more potent than tramadol, and three hundred and fifty thousand (350,000) bottles of syrup containing codeine.

“Two days later, on September 17 and Friday, September 20, 2024, the Agency made the seizures from three containers that had been placed on its blacklist after analysing intelligence. Consequently, the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies were asked to examine the shipments 100% jointly by the NDLEA.

The total value of the seizures is Fourteen Billion Nine Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N14,950,000,000.00) because the estimated street value of the 25 million tapentadol pills is Thirteen Billion Seven Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N13,725,000,000.00) and the estimated street value of the codeine consignment is Two Billion Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N2,450,000,000.00).

“On Tuesday, September 17, a container containing a consignment of 500 cartons of tapentadol was found, and the same day, another container was investigated, revealing 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine, packaged in 875 cartons. On Friday, September 20, the third container, which had 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine, was inspected.

On Tuesday, September 17, NDLEA officers in Kogi state discovered 700,000 exol-5 pills that were being distributed in Kano and Kaduna by way of the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja motorway. On Friday, September 20, operatives arrested 23-year-old Udemefuna Chibuike along the Mokwa-Jebba road in Niger state, where he was found in possession of 49,000 tramadol tablets, 20,000 diazepam tablets, 100 ampoules of tramadol injection and 50 bottles of cough syrup containing codeine.

On Wednesday, September 18, at Port Harcourt, Rivers state, NDLEA officers seized 451 blocks of cannabis totalling 213 kg. They nabbed a suspect, Ogochukwu Paul, 33, who was transporting the shipment to a renowned drug refuge in Borikiri.

While agents in Plateau state apprehended 46-year-old Jonathan Ali Abuttur at Agingi-Rukuba road Bassa LGA on Friday, September 20, they also apprehended Shaibu Musa in Kwara, who had 28 kg of the same psychoactive substance hidden in 68 bags of fertiliser and sugar.