NDLEA nabs ex-convict with N4.6bn worth of cocaine at Lagos airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos have arrested a 48-year-old businessman Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji, for importing 817 wraps of class A drug weighing 19.40kgs with an estimated street value of N4.656bn.

Ogbuji’s arrest was coming barely 16 months after he was initially arrested and convicted for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine.

Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said on Tuesday in a statement that Ogbuji was first arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday May 10, 2023 upon arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951.

He was arrested then for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.986kgs and was subsequently arraigned before Federal High Court 12 Abuja presided over by Hon. Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/192/2023.

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He was subsequently convicted on 13th July 2023 and sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of paying a fine of N3m, which he paid and was set free.

“Not done with crime, Ogbuji was again arrested at the Lagos airport on September 18, 2024, during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight passengers from Addis Ababa to Lagos.

A total of 817 pellets of cocaine excreted by many traffickers in Addis Ababa weighing 19.40kgs belonging to different members of a drug cartel were recovered.

During an interview with the suspect, he said he initially left the backpack containing the drug at the carousel area as a strategy to beat NDLEA operatives, adding that he never knew there could be a secondary search since he had presented his bag for search previously and nothing incriminating was found.

He claimed he had to procure a new international passport to continue his criminal trade.

Investigation reveals Ogbuji is an unrepentant kingpin within the network of drug cartels operating between Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and others in the West African sub-region like Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire.