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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have foiled attempts by some drug pushers this time at both the international and local airports.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, 23-year-old secondary school leaver, Iwuyi Princewill Chukwuka, and a Europe-based Nigerian, Peter Nkwo, trying to export nine kilograms of skunk and methamphetamine to Turkey and Belgium, respectively, were intercepted.
Nkwo, 37, was arrested on Friday, May 28, 2021, while trying to board an Ethiopian Airline flight 910 from Abuja through Addis Ababa to Brussels, Belgium.
The spokesman for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement, said when searched, 3kg of methamphetamine was discovered stuffed in the lining of a false bottom of his luggage.
“Under interrogation, Peter claimed that he had lived in Belgium for 15 years and worked as a forklift driver in an automobile company, where he earned €1,700 per month. He said he came into Nigeria on April 26 for the burial of his father, who died in August 2019 and was buried on April 30 in Awka, Anambra State.
“He said after spending two weeks in Awka, he travelled to Uyo for another week to see his sister and later to Lagos to see his girlfriend. He claimed that he lodged in a hotel at Amuwo Odofin in Lagos, where he met two men while hanging at the bar by the hotel’s swimming pool, where they made a proposal to him to carry the drug for onward delivery to Belgium.”
Nkwo said the bag containing the drug was brought to him in the hotel by the two men on Friday, May 28, 2021, before he took off to Abuja where he was to take his flight to Brussels.
He was also quoted by the NDLEA as saying that he was promised €3,000 on successful delivery of the drug to one Ishmael in Belgium.
He claimed that he accepted the offer to deliver the drug in order to raise some funds to pay back the money he borrowed from friends during the burial of his father.
Babafemi said the 23-year-old Chukwuka was arrested with 6.3kg of skunk concealed in crayfish and stuffed inside packs Golden Morn during an outward clearance of Turkish Airline flight at the departure hall of the Abuja airport.
During interrogation, he claimed that he was travelling for a diploma programme in Tourism and Hotel Management at the University of Mediterranean, Karpasia, North Cyprus.
In another development, a 27-year-old graduate of Accountancy from the Bayero University, Kano, Zakaru Baba, was arrested at the local wing of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, with 6kg of cannabis sativa.
The consignment was flown from Lagos to Kano on Saturday, May 29, 2021, via Max Air.
The suspect, who turned up to claim the packaged drug, was arrested and allegedly confessed to the ownership of the exhibit.
“This is the first time the NDLEA command has apprehended a suspect via the domestic wing of the airport, as most arrests and seizures are usually made at the international wing,” Babafemi stated.
The Chairman/Chief Executive, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the NAIA Commander of the agency, Kabir Tsakuwa, and his MAKIA counterpart, Mohammed Ajiya, as well as the officers and men of the two commands for their vigilance and commitment to the task of ridding the country of illicit substances.
He charged them not to rest on their oars as the agency had intensified the war against drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria
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