NDLEA Foils Iran-Bound Cocaine Smuggling, Nabs UK Ex-Convict

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A desperate attempt by a woman, Ihensekhien Miracle Obehi, to smuggle a large consignment of cocaine to Iran has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.

Obehi, disguised in a hijab to evade security checks, was intercepted at the departure hall of the airport on Sunday, 3rd May 2025, while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran via Doha. Based on credible intelligence, NDLEA officers conducted a search and discovered three wraps of cocaine inserted in her private part, two large parcels hidden in false compartments of her handbag, and that she had swallowed 67 pellets of the Class A drug.

She was placed under observation, and after four excretions over several days, expelled all 67 wraps. Obehi later confessed she had intended to swallow 70 pellets but could not ingest the last three, deciding instead to conceal them in her body. The total weight of the cocaine recovered from her was 2.523 kilograms.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Friday, 9th May, intercepted a 22-year-old British national, Campell Kaizra Kofi Johannes Slifer, who arrived from Thailand via Doha with two suitcases containing 35 parcels of “Loud”, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 37.60kg. Slifer, who admitted to having previously been convicted twice in the UK for drug trafficking and robbery, said he was recruited in London to travel to Thailand and bring the consignment to Nigeria.

In Niger State, NDLEA officers acting on intelligence intercepted a fuel tanker (registration number ABJ 693 XU) and three other vehicles on Wednesday, 7th May, along the Suleja–Kaduna Road.

The vehicles were found to be transporting 246 bags of skunk, weighing a total of 3,047 kilograms. Four suspects—Christopher Onyema, 47; Benedict Etineruba Young, 54; Chukwudi Ujue Jerry, 30; and Mohammed Abdullahi Danasabe—were arrested. The additional vehicles recovered include a Honda Odyssey (YAB 667 CZ), a Gulf bus (GWA 125 TQ), and another Honda Odyssey (ABJ 230 CN).

In Lagos, at Oja Amukoko in the Ijora area, NDLEA operatives arrested Eze Chekube Emmanuel and Ike Samuel Chinyerem on Thursday, 8th May, seizing 109,914 pills of tramadol, swinol, and nitrazepam.

Similarly, in Kaduna State, 52.5kg of skunk was recovered from two suspects—Lukman Sabo Umar, 23, and Tukur Ammadu, 20—in a bus at Gwantu, Sanga LGA, on Tuesday, 6th May. In Kwara State, officers on patrol along Bode Saadu–Jebba expressway arrested Rufai Nasiru with 45,400 pills of tramadol (225mg) on Monday, 5th May.

In Bauchi State, on Tuesday, 6th May, NDLEA operatives intercepted a Toyota Tundra (RBC 111 DW) along the Bauchi–Gombe Road, conveying 526 blocks of skunk weighing 505kg. Two suspects, Isaac Onogure, 37, and Ikechukwu Peter, 44, were arrested. In Kano, 31 kegs containing 775 litres of codeine syrup were recovered on Saturday, 10th May, from Hafizu Isa Uman, 34, and Ismail Shehu, 48, during a raid at their Rijiyar Zaki hideout. A 1.1kg consignment of Loud hidden in a pillow and arriving from Thailand was also intercepted at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday, 6th May.

NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy continued nationwide with sensitisation lectures at Federal Government College, Sokoto; Deeper Life International College, Nteje, Anambra; Martins Sanda Girls Science College, Paikoro, Niger State; and Restoration Power International School, Idua Eket, Akwa Ibom. In Oyo State, the agency delivered a WADA lecture to members of the League of Imams and Alfas at Iseyin Central Mosque.

The Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the agency’s officers and men across various commands for their efforts in both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction during the week.