Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended a 67-year-old suspected drug trafficker, Clement Chukwuemeka, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The suspect was found to have ingested 100 wraps of cocaine.
According to statements from the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Chukwuemeka confessed to engaging in drug trafficking to accumulate enough money to marry a new wife and make a fresh start after spending 30 years abroad in countries like Brazil, Ethiopia, and Thailand.
The arrest occurred during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Chukwuemeka was subjected to a body scan, which revealed multiple pellets of cocaine in his stomach.
Babafemi said, “While under observation, he excreted a total of 100 wraps of cocaine weighing 2.195kg in four excretions.
“In his statement, he claimed to have spent 30 years in Brazil, Ethiopia, and Thailand, while he was once married but lost his wife and was without a child.
He said that was why he decided to go into drug trafficking to raise enough money to marry a new wife and start life afresh.”
Babafemi added that operatives, also on October 2, 2023, at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, intercepted a 45-year-old woman, Bilkisu Bello, while she was about to board a Saudi Airlines flight to Saudi Arabia.
“While being interviewed, she confessed that pellets of cocaine given to her to swallow before her flight were kept in a house in the Farawa area of Kano. When she led NDLEA officers to the house, 52 wraps of the illicit substance with a total weight of 767 grammes were recovered.
“Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives, supported by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, Civil Defence Corps, and Amotekun personnel, stormed James town on Tuesday, October 3, in Ogunmakin, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, where they located and destroyed 10.38 tonnes of cannabis sativa covering over 4.152 hectares,” the spokesperson for the anti-narcotics agency added.
On their way back from the operation, the NDLEA operatives were also said to have intercepted a truck with number plate FS548XN carrying a 40-foot container loaded with logs of wood.
A search of the container led to the recovery of two bags of cannabis sativa weighing 20 kg, while six suspects—Ahmed Yusuf, Olaniyi Babatunde, Adedeji Babatunde, Richard John, Osolale Olamilekan, and Abdulazeez Saied—who were in the truck were arrested.
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