In a shocking drug trafficking bust, a 59-year-old Nigerian businessman, Chijioke Nnanna Igbokwe, has undergone emergency surgery to remove 57 out of 81 cocaine pellets lodged in his stomach. The surgery, performed at a Lagos hospital, was necessitated after he failed to excrete the illicit drugs for seven days following his return from Ethiopia.
Igbokwe was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Sunday, January 26, 2025, during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers. According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, a routine body scan exposed the foreign substances in his digestive tract, leading to his immediate detention for excretion observation.
Investigations revealed that Igbokwe, who posed as a clothing merchant in Oshodi, Lagos, had embarked on a high-risk smuggling operation. He departed Nigeria on January 22 for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he swallowed 81 wraps of cocaine on January 23 before boarding a flight to Beirut, Lebanon. His mission? To deliver the drugs for a mere $3,000 payout.
However, his plan quickly unraveled. Upon arrival in Beirut, he was denied entry due to insufficient funds, failing to meet Lebanon’s minimum cash requirement of $2,000. Deported back to Ethiopia, he attempted to excrete the drugs but failed. Running out of options, he boarded another flight to Nigeria on January 25, only to be arrested upon arrival in Lagos.
For five days, Igbokwe remained under excretion observation, but despite medical intervention at the NDLEA’s medical facility and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, he was only able to expel 24 of the 81 pellets. With 57 wraps still trapped in his stomach and his health deteriorating rapidly, medical experts had no choice but to perform an emergency exploratory laparotomy—a complex surgical procedure to extract the remaining drugs.
NDLEA confirmed that his wife and brother had to sign consent forms before the surgery, which was carried out on Thursday, January 30, 2025. Eventually, all 81 cocaine pellets, weighing 1.943 kilograms, were successfully recovered from his body.
Igbokwe’s case is just one in a series of drug busts by the NDLEA. In a separate operation on January 29, NDLEA operatives intercepted a massive 2,000kg consignment of Ghanaian Loud cannabis at Lekki Beach, Lagos, while three suspects—Sunday Awoyede, Christopher Cletus, and Lawal Idris Olasunkanmi—were arrested in connection with the shipment.
The crackdown on traffickers highlights the NDLEA’s relentless efforts in curbing drug smuggling and dismantling major narcotics networks operating within and beyond Nigeria’s borders.
PIONEER NEWS 