… London-bound cocaine consignment sent by convicted drug kingpin intercepted

A China-based Nigerian businessman, Ibeanu Vincent Chukwudulue and two Angolan citizens: Mbandu Martins Makiadi and Ngoma Wilson Fernando have excreted a total of 236 wraps of cocaine following their arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, respectively.

The 34-year-old Ibeanu was arrested on Wednesday 4th February 2026 while on board a Qatar Airways flight 1432, from Kano to China enroute Abuja/Doha. Acting on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport demanded that the suspect be deboarded following which he was taken for body scan. The result confirmed the suspect ingested illicit drug.

A statement released on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was placed under observation during which he excreted a total of 52 pellets of cocaine that weighed 735.95 grams. In his statement, Ibeanu said he was into business on Lagos Island before relocating to Guanzhou, China in 2024.

Similarly, the duo of Mbandu Martins Makiadi, 50, and Ngoma Wilson Fernando, 52, both Angolans were intercepted on Wednesday 4th February at the screening point of the departure hall of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano during the outward clearance of passengers going to Istanbul, Turkey via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940.

“When they were taken for body scan, they tested positive for ingesting illicit drug. As a result, they were kept under observation for possible excretion. While Mbandu excreted a total of 76 wraps weighing 920 grams in seven excretions, Ngoma expelled 108 pellets that weighed 1.33 kilograms in five excretions.

“During interview, the suspects who hail from Hoji Ya Henda in Luanda, the capital of Angola claimed they were recruited by a Luanda-based automobile spare parts dealer who promised to pay them $3000 each upon successful delivery of the consignments in Turkey,” Babafemi stated.

Meanwhile, an attempt by a convicted drug kingpin Olashupo Michael Oladimeji to export 1.10 kilograms of cocaine concealed in processed cassava granules, popularly known as Garri to London, United Kingdom, on a Virgin Atlantic flight, has been thwarted by NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.

Babafemi said: “Olashupo is presently serving a five-year jail term at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre, Lagos, after NDLEA arrested him in 2025 in connection with a case of unlawful conspiracy to export 17.90kg cocaine, and was successfully prosecuted, convicted and sentenced in charge number FHC/L/925C/2025, by a Federal High Court in Lagos.

“Not ready to give up on his criminal enterprise, the convict who is the Chief Executive Officer of Dimeji Express Logistics, located at 20 Omilade Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, initiated the latest scheme from behind the prison wall to export the 1.10kg cocaine, using his company.

“His lid was, however, uncovered on Thursday 12th February when NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted a consignment of compressed block of cocaine, hidden in a sack of Garri which was further packed inside a carton.

“A staff of Dimeji Express Logistics, Adedeji Yusuf Gbolahan who presented the consignment for export was promptly arrested. Investigations revealed that Olashupo Michael Oladimeji, initiated the trafficking scheme from prison and directed Yusuf to pick the consignment at a location in Oshodi.”

A man was killed on Thursday morning while his wife was critically injured after a granite-laden truck toppled onto their Toyota saloon car at Eleko Junction along the Lekki–Ajah Expressway, Lagos State.

A statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, disclosed.

“Preliminary security briefings reveal that an articulated truck, heavily burdened with granite and travelling at an inordinate speed from the Epe axis, was approaching Eleko Junction when it reportedly experienced a catastrophic brake malfunction.

“The mechanical failure precipitated an abrupt loss of vehicular control, causing the truck to career off its designated path and collide forcefully with a Toyota saloon car travelling from Ajah inward Epe,” the statement partly read.

LASTMA said the impact caused the truck to overturn and crush the smaller vehicle, trapping the driver inside the wreckage.

Officials of the agency and the Federal Road Safety Corps, with the help of bystanders, reportedly rescued the victims, but the man was confirmed dead at the scene, while his wife sustained life-threatening injuries and was rushed for urgent medical attention.

The agency said the truck driver fled the scene immediately after the crash, while operatives of the Akodo Police Division provided security during the rescue operation.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, described the incident as avoidable, urged motorists and truck drivers to ensure proper vehicle maintenance, and warned against reckless driving.

Justice Daniel Osiagor of the federal high court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, convicted and sentenced two Chinese nationals:  Huang Haoyu and An Hongxu, to 46 years’ imprisonment each for cyber terrorism and internet fraud.

The convicts,  alongside one Friday Audu were among a syndicate of 792  fraudsters arrested for cryptocurrency,  investment and romance fraud  on December 19, 2024 in Lagos in a surprise operation tagged “Eagle Flush Operation” by EFCC operatives.

 
In a statement on Wednesday,  Dele Oyewale,  EFFC’s head,  media & publicity, said investigations revealed that Friday allegedly incorporated Genting International Co. Ltd. on the directive of Huang Haoyu to facilitate the fraudulent scheme.

Oyewale said the defendants were found to have procured and employed Nigerian youths to falsely represent themselves as foreign nationals for the purpose of defrauding unsuspecting victims through online platforms.

“They were subsequently arraigned alongside a company, Genting International Co. Ltd., by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a seven- count charge bordering on cyber-terrorism, internet fraud and money laundering to the tune of N3,407,824,740.78 (Three Billion, Four Hundred and Seven Million, Eight Hundred Twenty-Four Thousand, Seven Hundred and Forty  Naira, Seventy Eight kobo), and $2,562,203 ( Two Million, Five Hundred and Sixty Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Three United States Dollars),” Oyewale stated.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Huang Haoyu, a.k.a Ken, Audu Friday, An Hongxu, Duliang Pan (at large) and Genting International Co. Ltd,  sometime in 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, conspired to willfully cause to be accessed, computer systems organised to seriously destabilise the economic and social structure of Nigeria (which prohibits and prevents cyber and related crimes) when you, with intent to gain a financial advantage for yourselves and cronies, procured and or employed Nigerian youths to falsely represent themselves as persons of foreign nationalities, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 (As Amended, 2024) and punishable under Section 18 of the same Act”.

They initially pleaded “not guilty” to the charges preferred against them.

At the resumed sitting on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, counsel to the first and third defendants,  Bridget Omateno, informed the court that the defendants would like to change their pleas from “not guilty” to “guilty.”

When the charges were re-read to them, both Haoyu and Hongxu pleaded “guilty” to the charges filed against them, while Audu maintained his plea of “not guilty.”

Following the guilty pleas of both Haoyu and Hongxu, who are directors in the company, the prosecution counsel, Bilikisu Bala- Buhari stated that the prosecution had earlier called two witnesses before the change of plea. 

She urged the court to impose the maximum punishment of life imprisonment on counts 1, 2 and 3, and 14 years’ imprisonment on counts 4 to 7. 

The prosecution also prayed the court to order the forfeiture of all items recovered during investigation from the four properties listed in the charge (Items 1–135) to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The items are: 1,596 mobile phones, 2,120 office chairs, 544 office tables, 194 routers, 43 computer systems, a network server, 126 air-conditioning units, several generators and vehicles, hundreds of mattresses and bunk beds, thousands of SIM cards across different networks, and numerous other electronic devices and household items recovered from premises at No. 7 Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island; Plot 1220 Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island; 54A A.J. Marinho Drive, Victoria Island; and No. 14A Modupe Alakija Crescent, Ikoyi.

Delivering judgment, Justice Osiagor convicted and sentenced the first and third defendants to a cumulative term of 46 years’ imprisonment each,  with an option of fine of N56,000,000 (Fifty-Six Million Naira).

The court  also ordered that they undertake three days of community service and be repatriated after serving their sentences and completing the community service.

The matter was adjourned till April 29, 2026 for the continuation of trial involving Audu Friday, who maintained his not guilty plea.