An ex-convict, Christian Ogbuji, has been detained by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos for smuggling 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.40 kg, with an estimated street value of N4.6 billion.
News About Nigeria reports that the NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday, revealing that the arrest occurred just 16 months after Ogbuji was previously convicted for swallowing 93 cocaine pellets.
Ogbuji, a 48-year-old businessman, had earlier been arrested at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja on May 10, 2023, upon arriving from Uganda via an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
At the time, he had ingested 93 pellets of cocaine, weighing 1.986 kg.
On July 13, 2023, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced him to two years in prison.
Ogbuji, however, opted to pay a N3 million fine for his release, while the court ordered the confiscation of the cocaine, his international passport, $14 in cash, and 9,000 Uganda shillings found during his arrest.
Despite his prior conviction, Ogbuji was arrested again on September 18, 2024, at Lagos Airport.
NDLEA officers stopped him after noticing suspicious behaviour while clearing passengers arriving on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa.
During a security check, Ogbuji initially passed undetected but later returned to the luggage carousel and covertly placed a black backpack onto the cleared bags.
Alert officers intercepted him before he could leave the arrival hall and conducted a secondary search, discovering large wraps of excreted cocaine hidden inside the backpack.
