Just 16 months after his previous arrest and conviction for smuggling 93 pellets of cocaine, 48-year-old businessman Christian Ogbuji has been apprehended again by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to a statement from the Director of Media & Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Ogbuji was caught attempting to import 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.40 kilograms, with an estimated street value of ₦4.656 billion.
Ogbuji’s first arrest occurred on May 10, 2023, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. He arrived from Uganda via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951, having ingested 93 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.986 kilograms. He was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja and convicted on July 13, 2023, receiving a two-year prison sentence, with the option to pay a ₦3 million fine, which he did. The court also ordered the forfeiture of the cocaine, his international passport, and foreign currency found on him at the time of arrest.
Despite his conviction, Ogbuji returned to drug trafficking. On September 18, 2024, he was arrested again at Lagos airport during an inward clearance of passengers arriving on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa. Ogbuji initially cleared a black travel bag through inspection but later sneaked back to the carousel area to hide a black backpack inside the cleared bag. Alert NDLEA officers intercepted him as he tried to leave, and a secondary search revealed 817 wraps of excreted cocaine concealed in the backpack, weighing 19.40 kilograms. The cocaine belonged to multiple members of a drug cartel operating out of Addis Ababa.
During interrogation, Ogbuji admitted to leaving the backpack on the carousel as a strategy to evade detection. He assumed that having his luggage cleared once meant he would not be subjected to further searches. He also revealed that he had obtained a new international passport to continue his illegal activities.
The NDLEA revealed that Ogbuji is a key figure in a drug trafficking network spanning Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and several West African countries, including Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire.
Reacting to the arrest, NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), praised the officers involved in the operation, calling the seizure a major milestone in the agency’s fight against international drug cartels. He reaffirmed NDLEA’s commitment to disrupting the operations of drug syndicates in Nigeria.