The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) successfully foiled attempts by two drug kingpins to smuggle heroin into Nigeria through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and Port Harcourt International Airport. The traffickers swallowed the illicit substances in an effort to evade detection but were intercepted by NDLEA operatives and placed under excretion observation, leading to the recovery of 125 wraps of heroin.
According to NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi, one of the traffickers, 30-year-old Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, was arrested at Port Harcourt airport on February 2, 2025. Operating under the alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday with a Sierra Leonean passport, he was caught during the inward clearance of a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja. A body scan confirmed that he had ingested illicit drugs, and under observation, he excreted 62 wraps of heroin, weighing 1.348 kilograms. Sylvanus, a seasoned trafficker, confessed to abandoning his clothing and shoe business in 2017 to fully engage in drug smuggling, frequently traveling between Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa.
The second trafficker, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested on February 1 at Lagos airport upon arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Acting on intelligence, NDLEA officers conducted a body scan that revealed his attempt to conceal heroin internally. Under strict surveillance, Chinoso excreted 63 wraps of heroin, weighing 909 grams. He admitted that financial hardship following the collapse of his phone accessories business in Liberia led him into drug trafficking.
In related operations, NDLEA officers in Lagos intercepted two parcels of Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the U.S., weighing 2.82 kilograms. Additionally, 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection, weighing 225 grams, were seized from a courier firm en route to Canada.
