Driver, 2 others arrested with cocaine at Lagos airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an Uber driver and two other traffickers with different quantities of cocaine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja, said the Uber driver, Lawal Tunde Rasheed, was arrested at the SAHCO shed of MMIA on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, when he brought a consignment from his client to a freight forwarder for exporting to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea.

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According to him, when the package was searched, 150g of cocaine in two pieces of air freshener were discovered.

Babafemi explained that, “A follow up operation the following day led to the arrest of one Egbo Emmanuel Maduka in his residence, and investigations have confirmed that Egbo is behind the two seizures of 50g of cocaine in hair attachment and another 150g of cocaine in air freshener heading to Malabo. The seizures were made on June 4 and 8, 2021, respectively.

“Also, on Friday, June 11, 2021, a male passenger, Udogwu James Johnson, on Qatar Airlines from GRU in Brazil, was arrested at the arrival hall of MMIA with nine wraps of cocaine that weighed 300g in his pant.”

In a related development, a 27-year-old final year Petroleum Engineering student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Ali Mohammed, was arrested with 3.032kg of cannabis sativa at a motor park in Iddo, Lagos, following a tip off on Thursday, June 10, 2021.

Under interrogation, Ali who hails from Nguru, Yobe State, but was brought up in Lagos, claimed that while on his way to the motor park in Iddo from Obalende where he lived, he met an acquaintance, Ahmed, who upon learning that he was travelling back to Bauchi via Kano, implored him (the suspect) to help deliver a bag to one Ugo in Sabon Gari, Kano.

Ali further said Ahmed told him that he would send Ugo’s phone number to him through SMS to facilitate the delivery.

The suspect who admitted knowing that the bag contained drugs, however, denied receiving or being promised any form of gratification for agreeing to take the drugs to Kano.