NDLEA recovers 81 pellets of cocaine from businessman’s stomach

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recovered 81 pellets of cocaine from a businessman’s stomach at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
A statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Director of Media and Advocacy for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said the 59-year-old businessman, Chijioke Igbokwe, was arrested at the airport during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on January 26.
He said a body scan confirmed the presence of illicit drugs in Igbokwe’s system, leading to his detention for excretion observation.
Babafemi further revealed that after seven days of ingesting the illicit substance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the suspect underwent an exploratory laparotomy to extract 57 out of the 81 pellets of cocaine stuck in his stomach.
According to him, investigations revealed that Igbokwe, who claimed to be in the clothing business at Arena, Oshodi, Lagos, departed Lagos for Addis Ababa on January 22.
He said that on January 23, while in Addis Ababa, the suspect ingested 81 wraps of cocaine before boarding a flight to Beirut, Lebanon, but was denied entry.
“After five days under excretion observation, he managed to expel only 24 pellets with initial medical intervention at the agency’s medical facility and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.
“As time was running out and complications from other underlying medical conditions arose, the suspect was eventually admitted to the tertiary facility,” Babafemi said.