NDLEA arrests China-bound auto dealer with 95 cocaine wraps

A 62-year-old Lagos-based businessman has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, for attempting to smuggle cocaine to China.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi.

According to the agency, he was apprehended on Saturday, during the outward clearance of passengers travelling to China via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940.

A body scan conducted by NDLEA officers confirmed that he had ingested illicit drugs, after which he was placed under medical observation.

While under observation, the agency said the suspect expelled a total of 95 jumbo-sized wraps of cocaine, weighing 1.589 kilograms, in seven excretions.

NDLEA said he told investigators that he is involved in the clothing and auto spare parts business in Lagos and claimed he resorted to drug trafficking to raise funds to complete a house he is building in his village, Iwollo, Enugu State.

In separate operations across the country, NDLEA operatives recorded several major interceptions and arrests.

In the Federal Capital Territory, officers recovered 627.7 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, from a makeshift warehouse within Fums Plaza, Kubwa.

Also, an attempt to smuggle methamphetamine concealed in MP3 speakers from Enugu to Abuja and Kaduna was foiled on Friday, February 6, when operatives intercepted the consignments in a commercial bus.

A follow-up operation in Zuba, FCT, led to the arrest of Ebube Okeke, the owner of one of the parcels containing 173 grams of methamphetamine, while Evans Ugwu, Mohammed Eze Arinze and Friday Michael were arrested on Saturday, February 7, in Kaduna as they arrived to collect a second consignment weighing 28 grams.

In Taraba State, NDLEA officers at the Dan-Anacha patrol point in Gassol Local Government Area intercepted a 32-year-old suspect, Yusuf Abubakar, on Friday, February 7, while conveying packs of Hollandia yoghurt from Lagos to Mubi, Adamawa State.