Officials of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a flight passenger with 3.3 kilos of cocaine stuffed inside 68 T-shirt stickers.
Ukaegbu Bright Onyekachi, a passenger on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was arrested by officials of the agency at the E-arrival wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Monday.
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It comes days after the arrest of a passenger was arrested with cocaine worth N7 billion at the same airport.
Ukaegbu, however, claimed that he was unaware the drug was concealed in the check-in luggage allegedly given to him by one Kingsley, a Brazil-based Nigerian, he had met only twice.
NDLEA Commander at MMIA, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, explained that the suspect cleverly hid the drug in 68 T-shirts after heat transfer, probably in a factory in Brazil.
According to him, the mode of concealment was particularly ingenious. He, however, stated that the agency would continue to beat drug traffickers to their game.
He said: “The total weight of the seized drug is 3.30kg. It is not really a significant seizure when you compare it to the 8.5kg cocaine that was seized recently, but when you look at this seizure, the mode of concealment is very tricky. Our officials have to be experienced to discover this.
“Drug trafficking is a huge money business and definitely, anything that is money, people will want to do it. I want to say that the Covid-19 pandemic slowed them down in 2020 and I want to believe they want to meet up with the lost time.”
Ukaegbu, who said he was a cooperative attendant in Brazil, said he had been residing in the South American country for five years.
Raids drug spots, arrest 3 fake soldiers in Abuja
Achema said that the operatives of the FCT Command of the agency have raided a number of drug spots in Abuja, where 14 persons including three men in military uniform suspected to be fake soldiers were arrested and different quantities of cocaine, codeine, rohypnols and Indian hemp were recovered.
“In the FCT, some of the drug spots raided at the weekend include Wuse Zone 4 and 5; Wuse by Banex plaza and Garki by Torabora. Also raised are Area 1 by Gwagwalada park; Dagwa village and Abattoir in Karu,” he said.
According to the FCT commander of the agency, Lawan Hammisu, “The 14 persons arrested are being investigated in connection with the recovery of 34.8kg cannabis sativa. Also seized were other quantities of Cocaine, Codeine and Rohypnols. Three of the arrested persons who were in military camouflage are still being profiled but are suspected to be fake soldiers.”
Busts cannabis warehouse in Nasarawa
Meanwhile, the Nasarawa Command of the agency has uncovered a cannabis warehouse in Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital where 45 bags of the illegal drug weighing 474kg were recovered.
According to the state commander of the NDLEA, Justice Arinze, the recovery was the biggest singular seizure since the inception of the command in 1999.
“We are grateful to our new Chairman, Gen. Buba Marwa who made the feat possible for us by empowering us with the needed logistics to go all out,” he said.
He said that the command is continuing with its operation “Hana Kwaya”, in collaboration with other security agencies to raid drug joints and markets.
He said that the first phase of the operation had covered some local government areas in the state with the arrest of 54 suspects comprising 12 dealers and 42 drug users, while a total of 604 kilograms of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances have been seized.
Speaking on the developments, the NDLEA Chairman, Gen. Buba Marwa (retd) commended the men and officers of the MMIA, FCT and Nasarawa commands for taking the war to the doorsteps of traffickers and peddlers of illicit drugs in their areas.
