How Tonny Ezeh tricks the elderly into drug smuggling

They thought they were traveling to collect an inheritance. Instead, they were being used as pawns in a high-stakes international drug smuggling ring.

For two German pensioners — one 67, the other 80 — what began as a promise of financial windfall turned into a nightmare at Heathrow Airport. Each man, unknowingly, was carrying 3kg of methamphetamine cleverly disguised as boxes of luxury chocolates. They were told it was a simple errand — deliver the sweets to a contact in Hong Kong and collect their rightful millions.

But there were no millions. No inheritance. Just drugs. And behind the elaborate ruse was 51-year-old Tonny Iheoma Ezeh, a Nigerian national with Canadian and Jamaican passports and a long history of international deception.

Ezeh, who operated from Mexico, was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to smuggling class A drugs. A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation revealed that he was part of a broader West African crime syndicate that specializes in exploiting elderly and vulnerable individuals as unwitting couriers for hard drugs.

The strategy was as disturbing as it was effective: Ezeh’s network would contact older victims via scam emails, usually posing as financial advisors or estate lawyers. The pitch? The victims were supposedly heirs to massive fortunes — often in the millions — locked in foreign bank accounts. But to “unlock” the inheritance, they had to travel, sign legal documents, and deliver small tokens of appreciation to a third party.

By the time the truth was uncovered, both men had been detained, interrogated, and emotionally shattered. The charges against them were later dropped after the NCA traced the operation back to Ezeh, confirming that they were victims, not criminals.

This was not just a drug operation; it was psychological manipulation on a cruel level,” said Peter Jones, NCA operations manager. “Ezeh preyed on trust, age, and desperation. He didn’t care about the damage he caused — the fear, the humiliation, the trauma.”

Ezeh’s phones were a treasure trove of damning evidence. Investigators found messages and instructions revealing how the group coached victims, arranged flights, and prepped them with false paperwork. The aim was to keep them calm, convinced, and compliant, right up to the moment they were arrested.

The scam was meticulously designed to shield the real traffickers while putting the legal risk entirely on the shoulders of those least equipped to bear it

Ezeh was finally arrested on December 23, 2024, when he flew into the UK — ironically just days before Christmas, a time of family, peace, and generosity. For the victims, it marked the end of a months-long ordeal that had turned their lives upside down.

But for the NCA, it was a stark reminder of a growing trend: the weaponization of age and vulnerability in international crime.

“This case should serve as a warning,” said Jones. “If someone promises you millions to do something that feels even slightly unusual — especially if it involves international travel — stop. Ask questions. And contact authorities. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost always is.”

As drug cartels become more inventive, law enforcement is bracing for a rise in “white collar” mules (ordinary people misled into extraordinary crimes), but few cases are as gut-wrenching as this one, where trust was the Trojan horse and elderly innocence was the collateral damage.