A 59-year-old businessman Chijioke Nnanna Igbokwe has undergone a surgery, exploratory laparotomy, to let out 57 from 81 pellets of cocaine stuck in his stomach after he underwent body scan, which revealed illicit drugs in his system.
His travails manifested after seven days of ingesting the illicit substance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Igbokwe was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA and passed out the pellets under the agency’s observation.
Spokesman for NDLEA, said the suspect was arrested at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday 26th January 2025.
He revealed that the Class A drug with a gross weight of 1.943 kilograms were recovered from the suspect’s stomach.
Igbokwe claim to be into cloth business at Arena, Oshodi area of Lagos, but, NDLEA investigation revealed that he departed Lagos on 22nd January to Addis Ababa where he ingested the 81 wraps of cocaine the following day 23rd January.
He boarded a flight to Beirut, Lebanon to deliver the illicit consignment for a fee of $3,000, and upon his arrival in Beirut, he further stated that he was refused entry because he had less than $2,000 required to grant him entry.
The suspect, according to NDLEA, was then deported to Addis Ababa where he attempted excreting the illicit drugs but could not.
He thereafter proceeded to Lagos on Saturday 25th January with the consignment in his bowel, but, he was arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport by NDLEA officers on 26th January.
After his initial medical intervention at the Agency’s medical facility and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja, Igbokwe expelled 24 pellets of cocaine.
Worried by the underlining medical conditions, the suspect was eventually admitted at the tertiary facility where he had to undergo exploratory laparotomy to extract the remaining 57 wraps of cocaine stuck in his stomach on Thursday 30th January.
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