‘Joblessness pushed me to stash cocaine in sandals’

Spain-based Nigerian, Ezeugha Sunny, collapsed while lamenting when NDLEA operatives at the airport stripped him of his sandals, tore open the shoes and discovered one kilogram of powdery substance which tested positive to cocaine. Sunny who lived in Madrid for over ten years, was arrested when he was about to board an Iberian Airlines flight.

The cocaine was carefully packed in two 500-gramme parcels and neatly hidden in a pair of sandals he was putting on at the time of his departure from Nigeria through the airport. Three other suspects also tested positive to drug ingestion. Two of them, Abuku Prince Kennedy, 26 and Oparaji Anthony, 40, also live in Spain while Tochukwu Christopher Okeke, 35, lives in Monrovia, Liberia.  

Ezeugha Sunny, a factory worker in Spain was to board the flight when the drugs were detected.  He claimed to have been given the sandals by a contact in Lagos. In his words, “I work in Spain but I lost my job some months ago. Though I am single, it is difficult to cope in Europe without a job. It is joblessness that led me into drug trafficking. I needed money for my upkeep and when they told me that the drug will be inside my sandals, I felt it was a good plan to escape arrest but my desire did not work out,” he stated.

Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade ascribed the seizure to dedication and excellent profiling techniques applied by undercover officers of the Agency at the airport. According to the NDLEA boss, “the seizure is unique and the dedication of the officers must be commended. Drug barons will have their drug concealment methods discovered because we are prepared and committed to our duty of drug control. Regular training in both interdiction techniques and passenger profiling is also our strength.”