2 Drug Kingpins Excrete 125 Wraps of Heroin at Lagos, Port Harcourt Airports
As NDLEA Intercepts Colorado, Loud, Tramadol Consignments Concealed in Gas Cylinder
Two drug kingpins’ attempts to smuggle heroin into Nigeria through the Port Harcourt International Airport and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) have been foiled by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
One of the suspects, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, 30, who used dual identities to aid his cross-border movements, was intercepted at Port Harcourt Airport on Sunday, February 2, 2025. Sylvanus, who held a Nigerian passport under his true name and a Sierra Leonean passport under the alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday, was apprehended while clearing passengers from a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja.
After a body scan revealed that he had ingested illicit substances, Sylvanus was placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled 62 wraps of heroin weighing a total of 1.348 kilograms. Investigation revealed that he had been using his two identities to facilitate drug trafficking between countries including Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and other West African nations. He confessed that he turned to the illicit drug trade in 2017 after his clothing and shoe business collapsed.
The second kingpin, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested at Lagos Airport on Saturday, February 1, 2025, after arriving from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Following a body scan, Chinoso was found to have swallowed heroin and was placed under observation, during which he excreted 63 wraps of heroin weighing 909 grams. He admitted that he had been involved in the criminal trade after his phone accessories business failed in Liberia.
In additional operations, NDLEA operatives intercepted two parcels of 2.82 kilograms of “Loud,” a synthetic strain of cannabis, at a courier firm in Lagos on Thursday, February 6, 2025. The cannabis, which had been imported from the United States, was meant for delivery to Lagos. In another operation on the same day, 80 ampoules of pentazocine (225 grams) were seized from a different logistics company in Lagos, headed to Canada.
Meanwhile, in Kano, NDLEA agents arrested two 23-year-olds, Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, on February 3, 2025, with 15,396 pills of tramadol concealed in a gas cylinder. In another operation that same day, Chioma Okeke, 35, was arrested with 27 blocks of skunk (a strain of cannabis) weighing 15kg in the Sabon Gari area of Kano.
On February 8, 2025, NDLEA operatives intercepted 12,800 pills of tramadol (250mg) bound for Shuwarin, Jigawa State, along the Kabba-Obajana highway in Kogi State. A suspect, Salisu Basiru, 33, was arrested in connection with the seizure. In a separate operation at the same checkpoint, 65 parcels of “Colorado,” a potent synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 1.6 kilograms, were recovered from a suspect, Rufai Hassan, 32.
The NDLEA also continues its efforts to reduce drug abuse across the country, with ongoing War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, workplaces, and communities. Recent outreach included lectures at Saint Secondary School in Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Taangayar Malam Abubakar Bichi, an Almajiri school in Bichi, Kano; Federal Government Girls College in Calabar, Cross River; and College of Nursing and Science in Birnin Kebbi.
NDLEA Chairman and CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers involved in the arrests and seizures, emphasizing the importance of the agency’s balanced approach to reducing both drug supply and demand across Nigeria.
