NDLEA Arrests Iran-bound Businessman For Ingesting 53 Wraps Of Cocaine

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 44-year-old businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, for attempting to smuggle cocaine by ingesting 53 wraps of the illicit substance.

Ezemokwe was apprehended on Saturday, June 7, at the Port Harcourt International Airport while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight (QR1434) to Tehran, Iran, via Doha. 

A body scan revealed the presence of narcotics in his system, prompting authorities to place him under close observation. 

He later excreted the drugs in six separate batches, with a total weight of 1.172 kilograms.

In a statement released on Sunday, June 15, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said the suspect confessed to being part of a drug trafficking network operating between West Africa and Iran for the past two years.

The statement reads: “Barely two weeks after operatives of the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) Kano, intercepted a 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Leonard Okigbo heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach, their counterparts at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) have arrested another businessman, 44-year-old Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian for ingesting 53 wraps of the same class A drug while on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday 7th June while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Khomeini in Iran via Doha. After a body scan proved positive to ingestion of illicit drug, he was placed on excretion observation during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172kg. The suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran.”