The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the arrest of two suspected drug barons at the Port Harcourt International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Spokesman for the agency, Femi Babafemi who confirmed the arrest in a statement on Sunday, said the two suspects, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus and James Herbert Chinoso, excreted a combined total of 125 wraps of heroin.
Babafemi said Sylvanus who operates under dual identities to evade detection, and Chinoso had swallowed the illicit substances in a desperate bid to evade detection, but were intercepted by NDLEA operatives and placed under excretion observation, leading to the recovery of a combined total of 125 wraps of heroin.
“One of the he suspects, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus was apprehended at the Port Harcourt airport on Sunday, 2nd February 2025,” Babafemi said in the statement.
“NDLEA officers caught him during the inward clearance of a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja; a body scan confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs, leading to a tense waiting game as he was placed under observation.
“In five separate excretions, he expelled 62 wraps of heroin weighing 1.348 kilogrammes.
Sylvanus, a seasoned trafficker who alternates between his Nigerian and Sierra Leonean identities, reportedly shuttles between Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa, ferrying drugs across international borders. He confessed to abandoning his clothing and shoe business in 2017 to go full-time into drug trafficking,” he explained.
The NDLEA spokesman further said the second kingpin, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested on Saturday, 1st February, at the Lagos airport upon his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“NDLEA officials, acting on intelligence, subjected him to a body scan that exposed his desperate attempt to conceal heroin internally. Under strict surveillance, Chinoso excreted 63 wraps of heroin, weighing 909 grams. He admitted that financial hardship following the collapse of his phone accessories business in Liberia drove him into the illicit trade.
“In a series of other operations, the anti-narcotic agency made more shocking discoveries.
“In Lagos, on Thursday, 6th February, officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted two parcels of Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United States and destined for Lagos.
‘The consignment, weighing 2.82 kilogrammes, was seized at a courier firm. In another operation at a different logistics company, officers intercepted 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection, weighing 225 grams, concealed in cartons bound for Canada,” the NDLEA image maker added.
