Ex-convict arrested with cocaine

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an ex-convict, Onyeka Charles Madukolu, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, for importing 5.90kg of cocaine concealed in cans of deodorants and lip gloss.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, said that Madukolu who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Ethiopia for drug trafficking offences and released from prison in 2020 was again arrested on Friday, September 16, 2022, at the Lagos airport on his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

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He said, “A search of his luggage revealed he had concealed 5.90kg of cocaine inside cans of deodorants and lip gloss.

“During preliminary interview, he claimed to have gone into the drug business to raise capital to start a legitimate business after his release from an Ethiopian prison in 2020.”

 Madukolu, a father of two, one each from a Nigerian woman and a Brazilian woman, said he was into motor spare parts business before going into the criminal trade.

The 44-year-old indigene of Awka North LGA of Anambra State said he was expecting to be paid N2m on successful delivery of the drug in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, September  13, intercepted another trafficker, Chukwu Kingsley, on his way to Rome, Italy, on an Asky Airline flight.

A search of his luggage revealed he had concealed among food condiments 11,460 tablets of tramadol with a gross weight of 5.7kg and 39 bottles of codeine syrup.

The 49-year-old suspect is a known haulage agent who hails from Oru West LGA of Imo State.

Also, at the Lagos airport, a freight agent, Lawal Adeyemi, was arrested same day for attempting to export sachets of lexotan among other non-controlled drugs to Liberia; while operatives equally seized 593.90kg of khat leaf at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Thursday, September 15, after a joint examination of a cargo by a team of security agencies.