The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has arrested two Europe-based travellers at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport who allegedly swallowed 200 pellets of cocaine before trying to board a flight to Paris.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said in a statement that the two men, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were stopped on Wednesday, October 28, while being cleared for Air France flight AF 832 to the French capital.
How they were caught
A body scan revealed foreign objects in both men’s stomachs, the agency said. They were placed under observation and later excreted the packets. Laboratory tests confirmed that all 200 contained cocaine.
- Odife: 110 pellets, about 1.9kg
- Blackborn: 90 pellets, about 1.56kg
- Total: 200 pellets, about 3.46kg
According to the NDLEA, Odife works at a factory in France and had arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for what was meant to be a short holiday.
Both men are suspects and have not been convicted. The NDLEA usually charges such cases in court after investigations are completed.
Marwa’s warning to Nigerians abroad
NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa praised the officers involved in the arrests. He warned Nigerians living abroad not to use their foreign residence as cover for trafficking drugs, saying the agency’s officers at airports, seaports and land borders remain on alert.
The warning matters for the millions of Nigerians in the diaspora, whose reputation suffers each time a trafficking case involving a foreign-based traveller makes headlines. Airport security staff in Europe already pay close attention to passengers on flights from West Africa, and cases like this can lead to tougher checks for innocent travellers.
Not the first Abuja–Paris case
The arrest is similar to a May 2024 case in which NDLEA officers at the same airport stopped a businessman who had swallowed 111 pellets of cocaine and was also heading to Paris.
Swallowing drug pellets is extremely dangerous. If a single wrap bursts inside the body, it can cause a fatal overdose within minutes, and couriers are often poor or desperate people recruited by trafficking networks that keep most of the profit.
Busy week for the agency
The NDLEA said the Abuja arrests were part of a wider week of operations across the country. In the same statement, it reported:
- Large seizures of skunk (cannabis) in Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Kaduna and Sokoto, running to hundreds of kilograms in several cases
- Recovery of diazepam, tramadol and other pharmaceutical opioids in Kano, including a 57.7kg diazepam haul
- Destruction of a 1.6-hectare cannabis farm in Edo State
- The arrest of a woman in Kaduna with 266 rounds of AK-47 ammunition
The agency says that between 2021 and 2025 it arrested 77,792 suspects, secured 14,225 convictions and seized more than 14.8 million kilograms of drugs.
Sources: NDLEA statement via Premium Times.
