A Nigerian man who was caught at Washington Dulles International Airport with more than $100,000 of heroin pellets in his abdomen has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking. Ebodor F. Okenwa, 45, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to attempting to import a controlled substance.
He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and could face life imprisonment for the offense, according to his plea agreement.
Okenwa is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 26.
Court records say Okenwa flew into Dulles from Italy on March 24. Customs and Border Protection officers believed he “was acting nervously and suspiciously” and was carrying anti-diarrheal medicine, an affidavit says.
He was taken to Reston Hospital Center, where an X-ray revealed the pellets in his stomach.
Okenwa swallowed 88 pellets that contained 1.44 kilograms — or slightly more than three pounds — of heroin, according to plea documents.
CBP officials have said the street value of the heroin was about $125,000.
The week that Okenwa was arrested, another Dulles traveler was also arrested on suspicions of heroin smuggling.
Yomade Saheed Aborishade arrived at Dulles from Accra, Ghana, on March 30 and gave “multiple and conflicting reasons for his travel,” according to court documents.
Like Okenwa, he was taken to Reston Hospital Center and an X-ray showed that he had ingested heroin pellets. Court records and CBP officials say Aborishade swallowed about 100 thumb-sized pellets.
Those heroin pellets weighed about four pounds and had a street value of $129,000, according to CBP.
Aborishade has been in custody since he was arrested. No further hearings have been scheduled.
They’re not the only two suspected drug smugglers who have been nabbed at Dulles over the past year.
In September, Jose Acevedo admitted that he hid four pounds of cocaine inside 21 soup boxes in his luggage when he flew into Dulles from El Salvador in June. A drug-sniffing dog detected the cocaine, and CBP officers saw a white powdery substance spilling from the luggage.
And in October, Stephen J. Ingle was arrested after authorities said they found cocaine-filled statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in his luggage as he was traveling from London to Argentina. He pleaded guilty in December.
