National Drug Law Enforcement Agency officers intercepted 23-year-old student Sunday Solomon Odi in the departure hall of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, as he tried to board a Turkish airline to Northern Cyprus via Istanbul.[1] The NDLEA said Odi, from Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, had been offered a place to study Tourism and Hotel Management at Near East University in Cyprus.[1]

A search of his luggage found dried weeds, at least part of them positive for Cannabis sativa, weighing 13.55 kilograms, concealed among dried hibiscus flowers and stuffed into empty water bottles.[2] The cannabis was wrapped in small parcels that were pushed into bottles cut open and resealed with a label reading Wonder Bitter Root.[3] The bottles were then submerged among food condiments and provisions in the luggage.[1]

Odi said a childhood friend living in Cyprus, Emmanuel Onyedika Ihebekwe, had arranged his university admission and told him to bring foodstuff and malaria drugs in two padlocked Ghana-must-go bags, a Nigerian term for large striped woven nylon holdalls.[1] He said the bags were handed to him in Nnewi and that he believed they held only foodstuff and malaria drugs.[1] The commander of the NDLEA’s airport command, Kabir Sani Tsakuwa, called the concealment method intriguing and warned young people against being lured to study or work abroad and used to carry drugs.[3]