Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an American basketball player, Greene Da’monte Khiree, after 33.95 kilograms of Loud, a strain of cannabis, was found in his luggage.
The 28-year-old Savannah, Georgia, United States native was arrested at the car park of the Lagos airport after he abandoned two checked-in bags and attempting to leave the airport with only his carry-on luggage.
He had arrived aboard an Emirates flight from Thailand, where he had lived and played professional basketball since October 2025, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday.
On interrogation, he claimed he was in Nigeria on holiday and to build his networks for his basketball career. His luggage was found to have a tracking device and his phone revealed information he was involved in drug trafficking.
Agency arrests another with meth
The agency also arrested a methamphetamine suspect, Omokan Isaac Babatope, whose real name is Chinedu Onwude, on the same day at the arrival hall of Terminal II of the Lagos airport upon his return from South Africa.
A search of his two travelling boxes led to the recovery of twenty-five parcels of a white crystalline substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine with a total weight of 25.05kg. The parcels had been carefully concealed inside packs of assorted breakfast cereals and cereal-based food products.
NDLEA nabs two Paris-bound Nigerians with 200 cocaine wraps
The 56-year-old suspect holds both Nigerian and South African passports and has been resident in South Africa for over 24 years. During preliminary interview, he confessed that he adopted the name Omokan Isaac Babatope after using forged documents to gain entry into South Africa and had continued to use that identity ever since. He further stated that he was contracted by a South Africa-based man, Obiora Okoye, to deliver the illicit consignment in Nigeria for a fee of R20,000.
