NDLEA Arrests Vietnam-Bound Businessman With 88 Cocaine Wraps At Abuja Airport

The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a 54-year-old businessman, Paul Mbadugha, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after he tested positive for ingesting cocaine. The arrest took place on August 12, 2024, during the outward clearance for a Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 bound for Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha.

According to a statement by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Mbadugha was placed under excretion observation, leading to the recovery of 88 wraps of cocaine with a total weight of 1.710 kilograms. Mbadugha, a Lagos-based businessman, confessed that he was given the cocaine pellets by a friend in the Isolo area of Lagos State and was promised a fee of $2,000 for delivering the drugs to Vietnam.

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In a related operation, NDLEA officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted a shipment of “Loud,” a potent strain of synthetic cannabis weighing 800 grams. The drugs were concealed in noodle packages destined for Congo. A follow-up investigation led to the arrest of the sender, Nnamani Sunday Sunny, a GSM handset dealer at Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos.

Additionally, a significant consignment of “Loud” imported from Canada was seized by NDLEA operatives at Lagos airport.

The suspect, Desalu Temitope, was arrested upon arrival on an Air France flight carrying six suitcases. A total of 65.80 kilograms of the psychoactive substance were discovered in four of the six suitcases.

Desalu revealed that he and an accomplice, who remains at large, were promised $10,000 for successfully delivering the shipment in Lagos.