NDLEA busts brothers smuggling cocaine to India at Lagos Airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two brothers, John Abugu, 43, and Kenneth Abugu, 31, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, for attempting to smuggle 5kg of cocaine concealed in the linings of their suitcases.

The pair, who claimed to be en route to India for medical treatment, were intercepted on Thursday, April 3, 2025, following intelligence-led profiling by NDLEA operatives.

Upon inspection, officers discovered whitish powdery substances that later tested positive for cocaine embedded within the suitcases.

On the same day, the agency’s strategic command at MMIA also apprehended a 20-year-old Ghanaian-British national, Parker Darren Hazekia Osei, who arrived from Bangkok on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

He was found with 36 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 19.4kg and concealed in a giant travel bag.

Osei, who claimed to be a Computer Science student at East London University, confessed to picking up the consignment in Thailand for delivery in Nigeria.

Elsewhere, a 75-year-old grandfather, Nna Nnanna Felix, was arrested in Abia State with 1.6kg of skunk during a raid at Umunteke Asa, Ukwa West LGA. In a separate operation in Aba, a 21-year-old man, David Chinemerem, was found with 2,050 ampoules of the injectable drug pentazocine.

In Kogi State, a 33-year-old woman, Ngozi Ogili, was intercepted on March 31 while transporting 3kg of methamphetamine from Lagos to Abuja aboard a commercial bus on the Okene-Lokoja highway.

A follow-up operation in the Apo Mechanic area of Abuja led to the seizure of additional quantities of Loud and Colorado, both synthetic strains of cannabis.

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the arrests and reiterated the agency’s commitment to intensifying efforts to dismantle drug trafficking networks across Nigeria.