Two Europe-based Nigerian businessmen who flew home for holiday and attempted to return to Paris, France with their bellies loaded with cocaine have been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The suspects, Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn, were intercepted on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF 832 from Abuja to Paris.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that both men have excreted a total of 200 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.460 kilograms.
According to the agency, Odife, who claims to live in France where he works in a factory, arrived in Nigeria for a short holiday on October 21. He was arrested on his return flight few days after when a body scan confirmed the presence of foreign objects in his stomach.
Under interrogation, he admitted to having ingested 110 pellets of cocaine. He was placed under observation during which he excreted all 110 wraps, which tested positive for cocaine with a total weight of 1.901 kilograms.
On the same flight, his co-traveller, Blackborn, was also nabbed at the departure hall. His body scan also returned positive for ingestion, while he confessed to having swallowed 90 pellets of cocaine. Under observation, he excreted all 90 wraps, which tested positive and weighed a total of 1.559 kilograms.
Reacting to the arrests, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), said the interception is a fresh warning to those who think they can use their residence abroad as cover to traffic drugs across Nigerian borders.
He said the agency’s officers at all entry and exit points remain alert, and that there is no hiding place for anyone who chooses to risk their life and liberty by ingesting illicit drugs for a fee.
Marwa charged officers and men of the agency across the country to sustain the current tempo against drug cartels while not relenting in drug demand reduction efforts, including WADA sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.