Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 67-year-old suspected drug trafficker, Clement Chukwuemeka, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for ingesting 100 wraps of cocaine.
The suspect was quoted to have said he engaged in the illicit business to raise enough money to marry a new wife and start life afresh after wasting 30 years of his life in Brazil, Ethiopia and Thailand.
The spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday.
Babafemi said, “Chukwuemeka was arrested on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight 951 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and taken for a body scan which revealed multiple pellets in his stomach.
“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 without a child. He added 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 Saudia 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 grams were recovered.
“Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives supported by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, Civil Defence Corps and Amotekun personnel on Tuesday, October 3, stormed James town, 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 40ft container loaded with logs of wood.
A search of the container led to the recovery of two bags of cannabis sativa weighing 20kg while six suspects – Ahmed Yusuf, Olaniyi Babatunde, Adedeji Babatunde, Richard John, Osolale Olamilekan and Abdulazeez Saied, who were in the truck were arrested.