The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has rearrested a 48-year-old businessman, Christian Ogbuji, for drug trafficking, barely 16 months after his previous conviction. Ogbuji was apprehended on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, in possession of 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.4 kilograms, with an estimated street value of N4.6 billion.
Ogbuji’s latest arrest occurred during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa. According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Ogbuji initially presented a black traveling bag for inspection, which was cleared by NDLEA operatives. However, in an attempt to outsmart the officers, he discreetly returned to the carousel to place a black backpack, which he had left behind, into his cleared luggage. NDLEA officers, who remained vigilant, intercepted Ogbuji before he could exit the arrival hall and conducted a secondary search. This search revealed 817 pellets of excreted cocaine, hidden inside the black backpack, which was concealed in the traveling bag.
Babafemi explained that the excreted cocaine belonged to different members of a drug trafficking cartel and had been smuggled into Nigeria by multiple couriers in Addis Ababa. Ogbuji confessed during interrogation that he had left the backpack at the carousel as part of a strategy to evade detection, believing that once his bag had passed the initial search, he would not face further scrutiny.
Ogbuji’s re-arrest comes as a shock, considering his previous conviction for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.986 kilograms, which he attempted to smuggle through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in May 2023
