Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have apprehended two men at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos after being caught with over 252 wraps of cocaine weighing 4.3kgs..
According to the NDLEA, the 39 wraps of the illegal substance recovered was worth about N39 million.
The NDLEA put the street value of the drugs at about N39m.
Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, the NDLEA Spokesman said the suspects, one 54-year-old Chinweuba Echezona, who is a driver and 44-year-old Ekwueme Louis, a trader who were caught during screening of passengers had stashed part of the cocaine in their luggage and ingested the remaining.
“The suspects were caught during the screening of passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai.” He added.
While speaking on the arrest, The NDLEA commander at the airport, Ahmed Garba, said both suspects are under investigation over unlawful importation of the illegal substance. He further revealed that “Echezona packed 103 wraps of cocaine in his waist and ingested 69 wraps weighing 2.745kgs while Louis concealed 75 wraps in his luggage and ingested five wraps.”
The spokesman, Ofoyeju, added that: “Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were promised N500,000 each to smuggle the drugs from Dubai to Nigeria. Their trip was fully sponsored by an unidentified drug trafficking organisation.
“However, efforts are ongoing to trace and arrest their sponsors. Martins is married with five children while Louis is married with three children.”
Echezona, one of the arrests culprits in his statement said: “I am a driver but I have been out of job for a while now. I have been searching for job and my condition was so bad that I could not feed and discharge my responsibilities as a husband to my wife and father to my children. This was the reason I went into drug trafficking. I did it in order to survive the economic hardship.”
Louis also revealed in his statement that: “I used to sell jewellery but I have lost everything including my shop due to family problem. I feel ashamed that I cannot take care of my family and pay the school fees of my children,”
The NDLEA Chairman, Muhammad Abdallah, has however ordered a swift investigation into the case.
“Let me assure members of the public that the NDLEA has taken measures to fortify the exit points in the country. Drug traffickers will find it difficult to break through our security barriers.
“The ultimate objective is to have a society that is free from illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse. This arrest is being investigated and we hope to trace other persons linked to the crime.”