The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted an attempt by a 26-year-old Nigerian nursing student, Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, to smuggle 76 wraps of cocaine to India.
According to a statement by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the 200-level student of Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India, was arrested at Royal Park Hotel, Sabon Gari, Kano, just hours before her scheduled flight on Qatar Airways 1432 to Delhi on Friday, January 17.
Esther’s arrest followed a related interception on the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State, where 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie was caught transporting the illicit drug hidden in an audio speaker. Okorie, who was traveling from Lagos to Kano, was allegedly tasked with delivering the drugs to Esther before her flight.
A follow-up operation led NDLEA operatives to her hotel room in Kano, where she was awaiting the delivery.
During interrogation, Esther revealed that she was recruited in India and that her trip to Nigeria was fully funded by the cartel. She was reportedly paid to spend Christmas and New Year holidays in Nigeria but never visited her family in Imo State to avoid suspicion. Instead, she stayed in a hotel in Enugu for two weeks before being flown to Abuja and later Kano.
She further confessed to being promised over $5,000 upon successfully delivering the cocaine in India.
In separate operations across the country, NDLEA officers arrested several drug traffickers, including:
Four suspects on the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway carrying over 38,000 tramadol pills hidden in speakers and clothing; A 59-year-old man in Lagos caught with 10 parcels of Canadian Loud (synthetic cannabis) disguised in branded packaging.; Three suspects in Alimosho, Lagos, found with 1,610 kg of skunk and 6 kg of tramadol pills; Two suspects in Kano arrested with 7.6 kg of skunk and 356 bottles of “suck and die”, a new psychoactive substance.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers involved in the operations, urging them to intensify efforts in tackling drug smuggling and abuse across the country.
