The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a 26-year-old nursing student, Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, who was attempting to smuggle 76 pellets of cocaine before her scheduled flight from Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) to India.
Esther, a second-year student at Noida International University in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on January 16, 2025, at the Royal Park Hotel in Kano, where she was preparing to ingest the drugs. The NDLEA's operation was triggered by the earlier arrest of a suspect, Cosmas Okorie, who was intercepted on the Okene-Lokoja highway with the cocaine concealed inside an audio speaker. He was en route to deliver the drugs to Esther in Kano.
In her statement to NDLEA operatives, Esther revealed that she had been recruited by a drug cartel while studying in India and was promised over $5,000 for successfully delivering the drugs back to India. To evade detection by her family, she had avoided traveling to her home state of Imo and instead stayed in various hotels in Nigeria.
Femi Babafemi, spokesperson for the NDLEA, confirmed that Esther was set to board Qatar Airways flight 1432 to Delhi on January 17. The agency's swift response and follow-up operations led to her timely arrest just hours before her intended departure.