In a daring drug trafficking attempt, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) apprehended a fake couple, Kingsley and Roseline Ilonzeh, for ingesting a staggering 184 wraps of cocaine. The couple claimed they were going for medical treatment in India, but their true intentions were soon uncovered.
The NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, revealed that the drugs weighed a total of 3.322kg, with an additional 100 grams of the substance concealed in the woman’s private part. The duo was intercepted at the screening point of the international wing of Lagos airport while attempting to board an Ethiopian airline flight to India.
Despite their travel documents indicating consistency in their names and portraying them as a couple, an NDLEA officer decided to conduct a body scan on them. The scan revealed that they had ingested the drugs, leading to their placement under excretion observation at the agency’s facility.
Further investigation unveiled the truth behind their alleged relationship. It was discovered that they were not a couple, but they had obtained travel documents with the same surname to evade security checks at the airport. The woman, Ilonzeh Roseline Nonyelum, admitted that she was recruited in her church in Aba, Abia State, to carry out the illicit drug business.
Ilonzeh Roseline Nonyelum (also known as Ngogbike Nkechi) disclosed that Kingsley, who was not her husband, brought the pellets of cocaine to ingest at the hotel where they both stayed in separate rooms on July 31. She confessed that she was promised $5,000 upon successful delivery of the drugs in India.
Kingsley, a clothing business owner in Onitsha, Anambra State, stated that he was promised $2,000 for the successful delivery of the drugs in India. However, it was revealed that he had previously been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on March 19, 2022, for a similar offense. At that time, he used the name Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and had ingested 100 wraps of cocaine.
Despite being granted bail by the court pending the conclusion of his trial, Kingsley was again caught at the Lagos airport on August 1, this time with 82 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.822kg. The couple’s drug trafficking plot has been thwarted, and they now face the consequences of their actions as the law takes its course.