The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians residing in Europe after they allegedly swallowed 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.46 kilogrammes in an attempt to smuggle the drugs from Abuja to Paris, France.
The suspects, identified as Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were apprehended on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during the clearance of Air France flight AF 832 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, explaining that the suspects were intercepted after body scans revealed foreign objects in their stomachs.
According to the statement, Odife, who reportedly lives in France and works in a factory, arrived in Nigeria on October 21 for a short holiday but was arrested while preparing to return to Europe.
During interrogation, he admitted to swallowing 110 wraps of cocaine. He was subsequently placed under observation, during which he excreted all the wraps, weighing 1.901 kilogrammes.
His accomplice, Blackborn, also tested positive during a body scan and confessed to ingesting 90 wraps of cocaine. He later excreted the substances under observation, with the drugs weighing 1.559 kilogrammes.
The NDLEA said the arrests formed part of a series of operations conducted across the country, resulting in the seizure of various illicit drugs and the apprehension of several suspects.
In Lagos, operatives recovered 976 kilogrammes of cannabis concealed in two commercial buses.
In Oyo State, two men, Oguntona Nasiru, 46, and Soji Balogun, 47, were arrested on Thursday, October 29, while allegedly loading 554 kilogrammes of cannabis into a truck along Idere Road in Igboora.
Similarly, a raid in the Tsamiya area of Gezawa, Kano State, led to the recovery of 247,500 tablets of diazepam weighing 57.7 kilogrammes and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 38.7 kilogrammes.
Two additional suspects were arrested in Dorayi, Kano, with 19,250 tramadol pills.
In another operation, NDLEA officers conducting patrols along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway arrested a woman, Aisha Isah, after recovering 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition from her.
Also, a 68-year-old man, Ifeanyi Egwolonwu, was apprehended along the Zaria-Kano Expressway with 2,770 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 100 ampoules of diazepam injection, 11,000 diazepam tablets and 4,500 tablets of Exol-5.
Reacting to the arrests, NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), warned Nigerians living abroad against using their foreign residency as a cover for drug trafficking.
Marwa described the interception of the two cocaine couriers at the Abuja airport as a warning to individuals who engage in cross-border drug smuggling, regardless of where they reside.
He maintained that operatives deployed across the country's entry and exit points remained alert, stressing that anyone involved in trafficking illicit substances risked losing their freedom and putting their lives in danger.
The NDLEA chairman commended personnel in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ondo, Oyo and Edo commands for their efforts, urging them to sustain enforcement operations and intensify public awareness campaigns under the War Against Drug Abuse initiative.
