Businessman nabbed by NDLEA after 81 pellets, 1.943kg, of illicit drugs got stuck in his system.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 59-year-old businessman, Chijioke Nnanna Igbokwe, who faced a near-death experience after ingesting illicit substances in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This was revealed in a signed statement by the agency’s Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, February 2, 2025.
Igbokwe was apprehended at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on January 26, 2025. A body scan confirmed the presence of illicit drugs in his system, leading to his immediate custody for excretion observation.
Investigations revealed that Igbokwe who claimed to be a clothing trader in Lagos, had departed for Addis Ababa on January 22.
The next day, he ingested 81 wraps of cocaine before boarding a flight to Beirut, Lebanon where he was meant to deliver the drugs for a $3,000 fee.
However, Lebanese authorities denied him entry due to insufficient funds and deported him back to Addis Ababa.
Struggling to expel the dr¥gs, he returned to Lagos on January 25 but was arrested upon arrival by NDLEA officers the next day. Over five days, he managed to excrete only 24 pellets despite medical intervention at the agency’s facility and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
With time running out and his condition worsening, doctors performed an emergency exploratory laparotomy on January 30 after his wife and brother signed the necessary consent forms. The remaining 57 wraps of cocaine were surgically removed.
In total, NDLEA recovered 81 pellets of cocaine, weighing 1.943 kilograms, from his stomach.
