Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Brazilian returnee and father of two, Okolie Paulinus Nwabueze, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for importing 92 wraps of cocaine which he ingested and eventually excreted after days under observation in the agency’s facility.
Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, Said the 53-year-old trafficker who hailed from Mmaku village, Awgu LGA of Enugu State, was arrested on Friday, September 2, upon his arrival on a Qatar Airline flight.
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Babafemi explained that, “He claimed to have left Nigeria to Mozambique in 2004 and finally relocated to Brazil in 2017 where he obtained a residence permit before deciding to import the illicit substance for a $4,000 fee.”
In the same vein, a 42-year-old man, Aliyu Bello Kwasare, was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, for attempting to export a consignment of a new psychoactive substance, kuskura, to Saudi Arabia.
Kwasare, an indigene of Kware LGA, Sokoto State, but who lives in Goron Dutse area of Kano State, was arrested on Monday, September 5, during the outward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight to Riyadh.
Also, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos State, no fewer than 1,099,000 tablets of tramadol have been seized through inter-agency collaboration between NDLEA and customs.
The drug, parked in 50 cartons weighing 2,058.90kg, was imported from Pakistan via Addis-Ababa on an Ethiopian Airways.
Meanwhile, a freight agent, Aliyu Abubakar, was on Friday, September 9, arrested at the NAHCO export shed of the airport over attempt to export a consignment of cannabis concealed inside bottles of Caro White body lotion.
Also, attempts by drug cartels to export 7.805kgs of crystal methamphetamine to the United States and Australia were thwarted by NDLEA operatives attached to some courier companies in Lagos.
Meanwhile, a 25-year-old pregnant woman, Haruna Favour, was arrested in Auchi, Edo State, on Friday, September 9, with 82 pinches of methamphetamine, as well as various quantities of loud, Arizona, Colorado variants of cannabis and codeine-based cough syrup.
