Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have aborted attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, to swallow 76 wraps of cocaine, while planning to celebrate the 2024 Christmas in Nigeria.
Spokesman for the NDLEA, Babafemi Femi disclosed this on Sunday in a statement said the 200-Level student of nursing student at the Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India alleged that she was promised over $5,000 upon successful delivery of the illicit consignment in India.
The incident hours before her return flight to the South Asian Country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano and taken into custody by NDLEA.
Esther was scheduled to return to Delhi, India from MAKIA Kano on Qatar Airways flight 1432 on Friday 17th January 2025, according to the statement.
But she was arrested in her room at 11:30pm on Thursday 16th January at Royal Park Hotel Sabon Garin Kano, while awaiting the cocaine consignment she was to ingest before her flight the following morning.
The substance was uncovered when NDLEA operatives patrol team Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State on Thursday 16th January intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in a commuter bus coming from Lagos enroute Kano.
During a search inside his black polythene bag was an audio speaker, which was used to conceal 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.340 kilograms, which he was going to deliver to Esther in Kano.
NDLEA said a swift follow up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the female nursing University student later same day.
In her statement, Esther claimed the drug cartel she was working for recruited her in India and paid for her trip to Nigeria to enjoy her Christmas and New Year holidays. To avoid her parents knowing she was in Nigeria, Esther did not travel to her home State, Imo.
But she was lodge for two weeks in a hotel in Enugu, from where she was flown to Abuja and then Kano where she was lodged at Royal Park Hotel to swallow the 76 pellets of cocaine sent to her from Lagos before taking her Qatar Airways flight to India on Friday morning.
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