Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have thwarted an attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma to ingest 76 wraps of cocaine just hours before her return flight to India.
The student, a 200-level nursing student at Noida International University in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested at the Royal Park Hotel in Sabon Garin Kano on Thursday, January 16, 2025, while waiting to swallow the cocaine she intended to carry to India the following morning.
Uzodinma was set to fly from Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) on Qatar Airways Flight 1432 to Delhi on Friday, January 17, 2025.
However, her plans were disrupted after NDLEA operatives intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie on the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State.
Okorie, travelling in a commuter bus from Lagos to Kano, was carrying 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.34 kilograms hidden inside an audio speaker.
He was allegedly en route to deliver the drugs to Uzodinma in Kano.
Following Okorie’s arrest, a swift follow-up operation led to Uzodinma’s capture in Kano. In her statement, the nursing student admitted to working for a drug cartel, which had recruited her while she was in India.
She explained that she had been paid for her trip to Nigeria during the Christmas and New Year holidays, and to avoid her parents discovering her presence in the country, she stayed at hotels in Enugu, Abuja, and Kano.
She was instructed to ingest the cocaine before boarding her flight back to India, where she was promised over $5,000 upon successful delivery of the drugs.
