VIDEO: Traffickers now swallow drugs for Sahara road route, says NDLEA

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has raised the alarm over a new trafficking method in which suspects ingest illicit drugs for overland journeys through the Sahara Desert to North Africa and eventually Europe.

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement posted on his X handle on Sunday, noting that traffickers are increasingly turning to road routes after intensified surveillance at airports.

According to him, the development may lead to a rise in roadside excretion of illicit substances as operatives tighten monitoring on highways across the country.

“The latest code is appalling. Now they know that with modern tools and vigilance of @ndlea_nigeria officers at our airports, it’s now extremely difficult to pass through without being caught, they have now resorted to ingesting illicit drugs to travel by road from the south to the north and through the desert to North Africa and ultimately Europe with about three stops to excrete and reingest,” Babafemi stated.

He described the method as risky and dangerous, questioning the extent to which traffickers are willing to go to evade arrest.

“Is this risk not too much? Anyways, the bad news is that code too don cast and with the increasing presence of NDLEA officers on the highways, there will be many roadside excretion of illicit drugs as is the case in the attached video,” he added.

The attached video shows NDLEA operatives in red uniforms conducting a roadside intervention.

Officers are seen recovering multiple yellowish, condom-wrapped pellets apparently excreted by a suspect.

The substances are laid out on a wooden table for documentation and field testing with chemical reagents, which produce characteristic colour reactions to confirm the presence of illicit drugs.

Watch the video below:

𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲, 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗔

Credit: X | Femi Babafemi
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This development comes amid the NDLEA’s sustained crackdown on both airport and inland drug trafficking networks.

Recent cases have included businessmen and pilgrims attempting to traffic drugs via commercial flights.