NDLEA intercepts N8bn cocaine at Lagos airport, arrests suspect

The Nationwide Drug Regulation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) intercepted 36 blocks of cocaine on the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The drug weighs 27.95 kilogrammes with a avenue worth in extra of N8billion.

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a press release on Sunday mentioned a Brazil-based drug kingpin, Ejiofor Felix Enwereaku, was nabbed on Could 14, 2021.

Enwereaku allegedly imported the drug, utilizing an organised prison gang which specialises in tagging and planting medicine in harmless travellers’ baggage.

Narcotic brokers on the MMIA had, on Could 8, intercepted a bag that arrived from GRU, Brazil through Addis Ababa.

The luggage with tag no. ET331199 arrived by way of an Ethiopian airline flight however was disclaimed by an arriving passenger.

On Could 9, a day after NDLEA operatives secured the bag, a person confirmed as much as make an inquiry. He was promptly arrested.

The bag was opened within the presence of the arrival passenger and the person who got here to demand the discharge.

The follow-up sting operation led to the arrest of Enwereaku, the prime suspect, upon his Could 14 arrival from Addis Ababa onboard an Ethiopian Airline flight.

He confessed to have been contracted by his Ethiopian affiliate, a infamous drug baron, to say and push out the consignment in Lagos.

Enwereaku admitted to have paid the $24,500 bribe in three tranches to compromise NDLEA officers.

The primary was $10,000 delivered by way of his consultant in Lagos, one other $10,000 {dollars} through his First Checking account, and the third tranche of $4,500 on the level of his arrest.

“His group is suspected to be chargeable for recruiting traffickers to maneuver illicit medicine to numerous locations utilizing Nigeria as their transit location and likewise planting medicine within the baggage of harmless travellers,” the assertion added.