Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, a 200-level nursing student in India, has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in Kano for trying to smuggle cocaine into India.
Esther, the 26-year-old nursing student, was caught at the Royal Park Hotel, Sabon Gari, Kano, just hours before her scheduled Qatar Airways flight to Delhi on 17 January 2025.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, disclosed this and published on the agency’s website on Sunday.
The statement reads, “An attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, a 200-level nursing student at Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India, to swallow 76 wraps of cocaine hours before her return flight to the South Asian country through Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
“Esther was scheduled to return to Delhi, India, from MAKIA, Kano, on Qatar Airways flight 1432 on Friday, 17 January 2025, but was arrested in her hotel room at 11:30 pm on Thursday, 16 January, at Royal Park Hotel, Sabon Gari, Kano, while awaiting the cocaine consignment she was meant to ingest before her flight the following morning.”
“Her operation was uncovered when NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Okene-Lokoja Highway in Kogi State on Thursday, 16 January, intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in a commuter bus travelling from Lagos to Kano. Inside his black polythene bag was an audio speaker concealing 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.340 kilograms, which he intended to deliver to Esther in Kano.
“A swift follow-up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the female nursing student later the same day.”
During interrogation, Esther said she was recruited in India by the drug cartel, and they paid for her all-expenses-paid trip to come spend the holidays in Nigeria.
She was then tasked with swallowing 76 pellets of cocaine, and she was promised $5,000 upon successful delivery of the illegal drugs to India.
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