A 26-year-old Nigerian woman, Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, who is a second-year nursing student at Noida International University in Uttar Pradesh, India, was recently apprehended by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in Kano.
Esther’s arrest thwarted her attempt to smuggle a significant quantity of cocaine concealed in 76 wraps, which she had planned to swallow before her return flight to India. She had been scheduled to board Qatar Airways flight 1432 to Delhi on Friday, January 17, 2025.
The arrest unfolded late on the evening of Thursday, January 16, 2025, at around 11:30 p.m. NDLEA operatives found Esther in her room at the Royal Park Hotel in the Sabon Gari area of Kano, awaiting the cocaine consignment she was tasked with ingesting. This operation was the result of an earlier interception by NDLEA officers along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State.
That same Thursday, the officers stopped a commuter bus traveling from Lagos to Kano. During a search, they discovered 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in possession of a black polythene bag containing an audio speaker. Upon inspection, the speaker was found to conceal 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.34 kilograms. Cosmas admitted that he was on his way to deliver the illicit substance to Esther in Kano.
Following Cosmas’ confession, a swift follow-up operation led to Esther’s arrest in Kano later that day. During her interrogation, Esther disclosed that she had been recruited into the drug trafficking network while studying in India. She revealed that the cartel had funded her trip to Nigeria under the guise of enjoying Christmas and New Year holidays.
To keep her family from discovering her whereabouts, Esther avoided traveling to her home state of Imo. Instead, she spent two weeks in a hotel in Enugu before being flown to Abuja and subsequently to Kano. At the Royal Park Hotel in Kano, she awaited the delivery of the cocaine pellets, which she was to swallow before her flight to India the next morning.
CEO of NDLEA Commends the Officers’ Efforts
Esther further confessed that she had been promised a payment of over $5,000 upon successfully delivering the cocaine to its destination in India. Her plans, however, were disrupted by the timely intervention of the NDLEA operatives.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired), commended the officers involved in the operation for their diligence and commitment. He urged them, as well as their colleagues across the country, to maintain their efforts in combating drug trafficking.
He emphasised the importance of intensifying both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction strategies to safeguard the nation.
