2 Businessmen, Canada-Based Nurse Arrested at Lagos Airport for Cocaine and Loud Trafficking
By Okafor Joseph Afam
October 20, 2024
Two businessmen, Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, along with a Canada-based nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. They were apprehended for their involvement in trafficking cocaine and Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis.
Ihejirika, who claimed to be a fish importer with frequent trips to Thailand, was arrested on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, a body scan revealed that Ihejirika had ingested cocaine pellets. Under excretion observation, he expelled five large egg-sized wraps of cocaine, weighing 400 grams.
The 51-year-old confessed that he had been promised payment for successfully delivering the drug consignment in Thailand. He admitted that he needed the money to support his fish importation business.
In another case, on Thursday, October 17, NDLEA officers intercepted 26-year-old businessman Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory during the inward clearance of passengers from Brazil via Addis Ababa. A body scan revealed that he had also ingested cocaine. Under observation, Victory expelled a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grams. He later confessed to ingesting 30 wraps of the drug in Brazil, but had excreted 29 pellets in Addis Ababa, where he handed them over to an accomplice. Victory was promised N2.5 million for his role in the drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, on October 4, 2024, Canadian nurse Usman Grace Khadijat Olami was arrested by NDLEA officers at the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of passengers arriving from Toronto, Canada, via Paris on an Air France flight. A search of her luggage revealed 70 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 35.70 kg. During questioning, Olami claimed she had brought the consignment at the instruction of her boyfriend, who she was visiting in Nigeria.
All three suspects are currently in custody, and further investigations are underway.
